Bake and Shark

The Maracas Bay sandwich of fried seasoned shark in a puffed fried bake, loaded at the counter with chadon beni sauce, tamarind, pineapple, and slaw

Origin: Maracas Bay & Trinidad

From the journey of Culantro.

Maracas Bay lies over the Northern Range from Port of Spain, down a winding road through the forest, and on a weekend the queue for bake and shark at the huts along the beach is as much the point of the trip as the sea. The dish is simple. A piece of shark is marinated in green seasoning, the blended herb paste of chadon beni, thyme, spring onion, and garlic that begins almost everything in a Trinidadian kitchen, then dredged and fried and slid into a fried bake, a split round of dough that puffs in the oil. Everything else happens at the counter. A long table of toppings is set out and each customer builds their own: shredded lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pineapple, coleslaw, and a row of sauces in squeeze bottles, of which the green one, chadon beni sauce, is the one nobody leaves off. Tamarind sauce, garlic sauce, mustard, ketchup, and pepper sauce follow. The culantro is therefore in the dish twice, in the marinade of the fish and raw over the top, and it is the flavour a Trinidadian abroad remembers. Shark stocks have come under real pressure, and many cooks now make the same sandwich with kingfish, carite, or other firm white fish, sold as bake and fish. Nothing about the dish depends on the shark except the name.

Ingredients

Fish

600 g shark or firm white fish (kingfish, carite, or hake), cut into 4 pieces
4 tbsp green seasoning (chadon beni, thyme, spring onion, and garlic, blended)
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp salt
100 g plain flour, for dredging

Bake

300 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp caster sugar
0.5 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter, softened
180 ml water
1 l vegetable oil, for frying

To Serve

1 batch chadon beni sauce
4 tbsp tamarind sauce
1 small pineapple, peeled and sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
0.25 iceberg lettuce, shredded

Method

Rub the fish with the lime juice and salt, rinse, pat dry, and coat in the green seasoning. Marinate for at least an hour.
Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt, rub in the butter, and add the water to make a soft dough. Knead for 2 minutes, cover, and rest for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into four and roll each into a round about 1 cm thick.
Fry the bakes in oil at 180°C for about 2 minutes a side, until puffed and golden. Drain and keep warm.
Dredge the fish in flour and fry for 3 to 4 minutes a side, until golden and cooked through.
Split each bake, put in a piece of fish, and set out the lettuce, tomato, pineapple, chadon beni sauce, and tamarind sauce so that everyone can load their own.

Notes

Green seasoning keeps a week in the refrigerator and is worth making in quantity: blend a large bunch of chadon beni with a bunch of spring onions, the leaves from a bunch of thyme, a head of garlic, and a little water. Bake and fish, made with kingfish or carite, is the more sustainable choice and is sold under that name all over Trinidad.

The Gastrographer

Name: Bake and Shark
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Maracas Bay & Trinidad
Ingredients: 600 g shark or firm white fish (kingfish, carite, or hake), cut into 4 pieces; 4 tbsp green seasoning (chadon beni, thyme, spring onion, and garlic, blended); 2 tbsp lime juice; 1 tsp salt; 100 g plain flour, for dredging; 300 g plain flour; 2 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp caster sugar; 0.5 tsp salt; 1 tbsp butter, softened; 180 ml water; 1 l vegetable oil, for frying; 1 batch chadon beni sauce; 4 tbsp tamarind sauce; 1 small pineapple, peeled and sliced; 2 tomatoes, sliced; 0.25 iceberg lettuce, shredded

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

To explore — select an ingredient below · click any location dot on the map for recipes and stories · browse the information panel on the right · trace the full journey on the timeline.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control