Oil down is a salted meat and vegetable stew that is the national dish of

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

Description

Oil down is a

stew A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been Cooking, cooked in Soup, liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of vegetables and may include meat, especially tougher meats suitable for ...

breadfruit Breadfruit (''Artocarpus altilis'') is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family ( Moraceae) believed to have been selectively bred in Polynesia from the breadnut ('' Artocarpus camansi''). Breadfruit was spread into ...

, salted meat,

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

, dumplings, callaloo, and other vegetables stewed in coconut milk, herbs, and

spices In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...

. The name refers to the fact that the oil from the coconut milk used in cooking is either absorbed by the ingredients or settles to the bottom of the cooking pot. All of the liquid is cooked down (dried out), hence the name oil down. Cooking oil down 02

The term "oil down" is also used for a traditional neighborhood party at which the stew is prepared and eaten. Traditionally, it is the men who cook the oil down at such parties. Oil down is also very popular in local restaurants. There is no set

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish (food), dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main r ...

for oil down, as each household and each parish make it to suit their preference. Oil down is not unique to Grenada. It is also popular in nearby

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

, which share a long history of cultural influences with Grenada. There are differences in how each island makes its oil down, however, with Grenadians preferring dasheen, dumplings, and turmeric, while Trinidadians tend toward a simpler dish without dumplings but with hot peppers. There are different versions of this stew in other

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

countries as well. In

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

, a similar stew is called mettagee, or mettem, and in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, there is a seafood version called run down.Jamaica - Montego Bay, Port Antonio and Ocho Rios - John Bigley - Google Books
p. (unlisted)

Description

See also

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Further reading