Game and Smoked Fish Sauce for Great Gatherings
A thick, fragrant sauce in which a piece of forest game and smoked fish simmer, bound with palm nut paste and spiced with melegueta pepper and grains of Selim. This is the sauce for days of honor, the one that calls the whole village to sit together.
A thick, fragrant sauce in which a piece of forest game and smoked fish simmer, bound with palm nut paste and spiced with melegueta pepper and grains of Selim. This is the sauce for days of honor, the one that calls the whole village to sit together.
When the day of great words comes, I have the agouti of the forest killed, and from the smokehouse they bring the fish caught in the Comoé — that river which knows my greatest sorrow. The red palm nuts are crushed to extract the thick juice; into it we throw the melegueta that stings the tongue and the grain of Selim that perfumes like no other. The pot sings over the fire for a good part of the day. And when I place the dish in the middle of the mat, no one eats alone: my table is the proof that the Baoulé people have only one belly.
- •Forest game (cane rat/agouti or antelope) — a nice piece (prestige meat)
- •Smoked fish from the Comoé — a few pieces (umami, depth)
- •Pounded red palm nuts (palm juice) — one bowl (fatty, colorful binder)
- •Fresh okra — a handful (thickener)
- •Melegueta pepper (grains of paradise) — a few grains (heat)
- •Grains of Selim (Selim pepper, hwentia) — one pod (resinous aroma)
- •Amaranth leaves (African spinach) — a bunch (leafy vegetable)
- •Country onion and trade salt — to taste (seasoning)
Game and Smoked Fish Sauce for Great Gatherings
A thick, fragrant sauce in which a piece of forest game and smoked fish simmer, bound with palm nut paste and spiced with melegueta pepper and grains of Selim. This is the sauce for days of honor, the one that calls the whole village to sit together.
Why this dish? Gathering the people around a single dish is the political gesture of Pokou, the founding queen; this sauce, blending game from the traversed forest and smoked fish from the Comoé — the river of sacrifice — brings together her entire territory in one bowl.
When the day of great words comes, I have the agouti of the forest killed, and from the smokehouse they bring the fish caught in the Comoé — that river which knows my greatest sorrow. The red palm nuts are crushed to extract the thick juice; into it we throw the melegueta that stings the tongue and the grain of Selim that perfumes like no other. The pot sings over the fire for a good part of the day. And when I place the dish in the middle of the mat, no one eats alone: my table is the proof that the Baoulé people have only one belly.
Ingredients (period version)
- Forest game (cane rat/agouti or antelope) — a nice piece (prestige meat)
- Smoked fish from the Comoé — a few pieces (umami, depth)
- Pounded red palm nuts (palm juice) — one bowl (fatty, colorful binder)
- Fresh okra — a handful (thickener)
- Melegueta pepper (grains of paradise) — a few grains (heat)
- Grains of Selim (Selim pepper, hwentia) — one pod (resinous aroma)
- Amaranth leaves (African spinach) — a bunch (leafy vegetable)
- Country onion and trade salt — to taste (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Stewing meat (beef chuck or guinea fowl leg) — 600 g (game substitute)
- Smoked fish (mackerel or capitaine) — 150 g (umami)
- Palm nut cream (sauce graine, canned) — 400 g (binder)
- Fresh okra — 200 g (thickener)
- Ground grains of paradise (melegueta) — 1/2 tsp (heat)
- Selim pepper (grains of Selim) — 1 pod (aroma)
- Spinach or amaranth — 200 g (leafy vegetable)
- Onion, salt — 1 onion, salt (base)
Method
- Brown the meat cut into pieces with sliced onion in a little oil, then cover with water and simmer for 40 min.
- Add the palm nut cream and the flaked smoked fish; cook on low heat for 20 min.
- Stir in the sliced okra (they thicken the sauce), the melegueta, and the lightly crushed Selim pod.
- Ten minutes before the end, add the amaranth or spinach leaves; adjust salt.
- Remove the Selim pod, check the consistency, and serve very hot, in the center of the table, with foutou.
How it was made : Forest game (cane rat, duiker) and smoked fish were the prestige proteins. Melegueta pepper and grains of Selim — indigenous West African spices — provided heat and aroma long before the arrival of American chili peppers. Palm nut sauce, made from pounded and strained palm nuts, remains a classic of Baoulé cuisine.
The contemporary twist : Serve the sauce in a half-calabash and stick a Selim pod into it like a perfume clove to be released at the table.
Abla Pokou II · Charactorium