Manicou

Ingredients

Meat

• 1manicou, opossum, taken in the legal season, skinned and jointed
• juice of 4 limes
• 2 tbspcoarse salt
• boiling water, for cleaning

Seasoning

• 6spring onions
• 1 bunchchadon beni, culantro
• 1 bunchthyme
• 6 clovesgarlic
• 1onion
• 2 tbspgreen seasoning
• 1 tspground clove
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 1bonnet pepper, whole

Pot

• 3 tbspoil
• 2 tbspbrown sugar
• 150 mldark rum
• 2tomatoes
• 1 tbsptomato purée
• 500 mlwater or stock
• 2bay leaves
• 1cinnamon stick

To serve

• provisions: dasheen, yam, green banana
• rice

Directions

1. Wash the jointed meat thoroughly in water with the lime juice and coarse salt, rubbing every piece. Rinse it, then pour boiling water over the pieces and drain them. Chop all the seasoning ingredients finely, or blend them into a coarse green paste.
2. Rub the paste right into the meat, cover it, and marinate overnight in the fridge. Scrape the seasoning off the meat and keep it, and pat the pieces dry.
3. Take it to dark amber but pull back before it turns black, because burnt sugar is bitter all the way through the pot. Add the meat to the hot caramel and turn it until every piece is coated and sealed.
4. Add the reserved seasoning, the tomatoes, purée, bay and cinnamon, and cook 5 minutes. Pour in the rum and let it bubble for 2 minutes before adding the water.
5. Let the rum boil off its harshness before the liquid goes in, or the stew tastes raw and spirituous. Add the whole bonnet pepper unbroken, cover, and simmer very gently for 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes.
6. Leave the bonnet pepper whole so it perfumes the pot without releasing its full heat, and lift it out before it bursts. It is done when the meat pulls easily from the bone and the sauce has reduced and darkened.
7. Cook it thoroughly and well past the point of merely done, which is both the traditional practice and the right handling for wild game. Serve with boiled provisions, dasheen and yam and green banana, or with rice.

Technique

• The season and the licence requirements are set by Dominican forestry law and vary year to year.
• The meat is dark, rich and gamey, and the clove and rum are traditional counterweights to it.
• Almost no reader outside Dominica will be able to source it, and the method below works well on other dark meats.

Substitutions

• Rabbit, which takes the same seasoning and a shorter cook.
• Goat or mutton, for a stew with the same character.

Variations

• Made with agouti, prepared the same way.
• Curried, with Caribbean curry powder in place of the browning.
• Smoked first over green wood, then stewed.

History

Hunted in a legal season in Dominica’s forests, singed over fire and stewed; with agouti it is the island’s traditional bush meat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Manicou?

Manicou is a main from Dominica: smoked opossum stewed with rum, cloves and herbs. Hunted in a legal season in Dominica’s forests, singed over fire and stewed; with agouti it is the island’s traditional bush meat.

How long does Manicou take to make?

Manicou takes 45 min plus overnight marinating of preparation and 2 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Manicou?

Yes, within limits. Rabbit, which takes the same seasoning and a shorter cook. Goat or mutton, for a stew with the same character.

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

Let the rum boil off its harshness before the liquid goes in, or the stew tastes raw and spirituous. Add the whole bonnet pepper unbroken, cover, and simmer very gently for 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes.