Bouyon

Ingredients

Meats

• 400 gsalt beef, soaked overnight and cut into 3 cm cubes
• 300 gsmoked pig tail or salted pig snout, soaked overnight and cut up
• 400 gbeef shin on the bone, cut into 4 cm pieces

Pot base

• 200 gsplit peas, rinsed
• 2onions (300 g), chopped
• 6garlic cloves, crushed
• 4spring onions, chopped
• 3 tbspgreen seasoning (parsley, chive, thyme, garlic and celery leaf blended with a little oil)
• 1 tbspfresh thyme leaves
• 2 tbspcoconut or vegetable oil
• 3 litreswater
• 1whole green Scotch bonnet pepper

Ground provisions and greens

• 400 gdasheen (taro), peeled and cut into 4 cm chunks
• 300 gyellow yam, peeled and cut into 4 cm chunks
• 3green bananas, peeled and halved
• 300 gpumpkin, peeled and cubed
• 1carrot, sliced thick
• 200 gdasheen leaves or spinach, shredded

Dumplings

• 200 gplain flour
• ½ tspsalt
• About 100 ml water

Directions

1. Soak the salt beef and pig tail overnight in cold water, then boil them in fresh water for 15 minutes and drain. Taste the water: if it is still aggressively salty, repeat. Everything else in the pot is seasoned by these meats, so get this right.
2. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot, brown the beef shin 6–8 minutes, then add the onion, garlic, spring onion and thyme and sweat 5 minutes.
3. Return the salt meats, add the split peas and the 3 litres of water, bring to a boil and skim. Simmer covered 1 hour, until the peas have broken down and clouded the broth.
4. Knead the flour, salt and water into a firm dough, rest 10 minutes, then roll into finger-length spinners between your palms.
5. Add the dasheen, yam and green banana and simmer 20 minutes. These are the ground provisions that give bouyon its body; they should be tender but still holding their shape.
6. Add the pumpkin, carrot, green seasoning and the whole Scotch bonnet, then drop in the dumplings and simmer 20 minutes more. The pumpkin will melt and thicken the pot, which is what you want.
7. Remove the Scotch bonnet whole before it bursts. Stir in the shredded dasheen leaves and cook 8 minutes until dark and silky.
8. Check consistency: bouyon should be spoonable, thick enough that a spoon leaves a trail but still soupy. Loosen with hot water if it has gone claggy, and correct the salt only at this point.
9. Rest 10 minutes off the heat and serve in deep bowls, one piece of each meat and provision per bowl.

Technique

• Bouyon is Saturday and after-work food across Saint Lucia and Dominica, a clear-out-the-larder pot; the constant is salted meat plus at least three ground provisions plus dumplings.
• The Scotch bonnet perfumes the broth but must not split. If it breaks, fish out the seeds immediately or the pot becomes brutally hot.
• Split peas are the natural thickener. Adding flour or cornflour to speed it up gives a pasty texture that locals will notice at once.
• Salt at the very end only. Salt beef, pig tail and reduction together can take the pot past edible in one careless spoonful.

Substitutions

• No salt beef or pig tail? Use 400 g of smoked gammon hock plus 1 tbsp extra salt, simmered from the start.
• Cassava, sweet potato and breadfruit are all legitimate stand-ins for the yam and dasheen; keep the total weight of provisions the same.
• Callaloo or dasheen leaves can be replaced by spinach, but add it 3 minutes before the end as it collapses faster.

Variations

• Dominican bouyon, often made with smoked herring and more coconut, and eaten with cassava farine.
• A fisherman version built on salted mackerel and conch instead of the cured meats.
• Some Lucian cooks finish with 200 ml of coconut milk for a creamier pot.

History

Dominica’s Sunday and Creole Day pot, cooked over wood and thickened with dasheen and dumplings.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bouyon?

Bouyon is a soup & stew from Dominica: heavy one-pot soup of salt meat, provisions, dumplings and callaloo. Dominica’s Sunday and Creole Day pot, cooked over wood and thickened with dasheen and dumplings.

How long does Bouyon take to make?

Bouyon takes 35 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 2 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Bouyon?

Yes, within limits. No salt beef or pig tail? Use 400 g of smoked gammon hock plus 1 tbsp extra salt, simmered from the start. Cassava, sweet potato and breadfruit are all legitimate stand-ins for the yam and dasheen; keep the total weight of provisions the same. Callaloo or dasheen leaves can be replaced by spinach, but add it 3 minutes before the end as it collapses faster.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bouyon?

Add the pumpkin, carrot, green seasoning and the whole Scotch bonnet, then drop in the dumplings and simmer 20 minutes more. The pumpkin will melt and thicken the pot, which is what you want.