Griot

Name: Griot
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Port-au-Prince & Haiti
Ingredients: 1.5 kg pork shoulder, in 4cm cubes with some fat; 3 sour oranges, juiced, or 2 oranges and 2 limes; 2 tbsp salt, for washing; 1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley; 6 spring onions; 1 head garlic, peeled; 6 sprigs thyme; 1 green pepper, deseeded; 1 onion, quartered; 1 scotch bonnet, deseeded; 4 whole cloves; 100 ml sour orange juice; 80 ml olive oil; 2 tsp salt; 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper; 400 ml water; 500 ml neutral oil, for frying; 0.5 white cabbage, finely shredded; 2 carrots, coarsely grated; 1 onion, thinly sliced; 3 scotch bonnets, thinly sliced; 500 ml white vinegar; 1 tsp salt

Haiti's pork marinated in sour orange and epis, braised until tender and then fried hard, served with pikliz and fried plantain

Origin: Port-au-Prince & Haiti

From the journey of Orange.

Griot is pork shoulder marinated overnight in sour orange and epis, braised in its marinade until tender, and then fried in its own rendered fat until the outside is dark and crisp. The two-stage cooking is the whole method: braise to tenderness, then fry for crust, and a griot that has only been fried is tough while one that has only been braised is dull. Epis is the Haitian seasoning base and it is kept in a jar in every kitchen. Parsley, spring onion, garlic, thyme, bell pepper, scotch bonnet, and cloves are blended with lime or sour orange juice and oil into a green paste, and it goes into practically everything Haitian; it is the direct counterpart of Puerto Rican sofrito and Jamaican green seasoning, and the family resemblance across the Caribbean is not a coincidence but a shared West African inheritance. The sour orange does the same work here as in Cuban mojo: Citrus × aurantium, brought by the Spanish and long naturalised, sharper and more aromatic than lime, and used both to wash the meat and to marinate it. Washing raw meat in citrus and salt before cooking is standard across the whole region and is not merely hygienic ritual, since the acid firms the surface and cuts any strong smell from pork. Griot is street food, party food, and Sunday food, and it is never served without pikliz: cabbage, carrot, and scotch bonnet packed into a jar with vinegar and left for days until fiercely hot and sour. The pikliz cuts the fat of the pork, and Haitians pile it on. Fried plantain and diri kole ak pwa, rice with beans, complete the plate.

Ingredients

Pork

1.5 kg pork shoulder, in 4cm cubes with some fat

To wash

3 sour oranges, juiced, or 2 oranges and 2 limes
2 tbsp salt, for washing

Epis

1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley
6 spring onions
1 head garlic, peeled
6 sprigs thyme
1 green pepper, deseeded
1 onion, quartered
1 scotch bonnet, deseeded
4 whole cloves
100 ml sour orange juice
80 ml olive oil

Marinade

2 tsp salt
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

To braise

400 ml water

To fry

500 ml neutral oil, for frying

Pikliz

0.5 white cabbage, finely shredded
2 carrots, coarsely grated
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 scotch bonnets, thinly sliced
500 ml white vinegar
1 tsp salt

Method

Make the pikliz at least three days ahead: pack the shredded cabbage, carrot, onion, and scotch bonnet tightly into a jar with the salt, cover with vinegar, and refrigerate.
Three days is a minimum and a week is better. Pikliz made an hour before serving is a salad, not a pickle.
Wash the pork in cold water with the sour orange juice and 2 tbsp of salt, rubbing it well, then rinse and drain thoroughly.
Blend all the epis ingredients to a coarse green paste.
Toss the pork with two thirds of the epis, the salt, and the pepper, and refrigerate overnight. Keep the remaining epis for other cooking; it lasts a fortnight.
Tip the pork and all its marinade into a heavy pot, add the water, and bring to a simmer.
Cover and cook gently for an hour and a quarter, until the meat is tender enough to give under a spoon.
Uncover and raise the heat, letting the liquid boil away entirely; keep any strained juices, which become the sauce.
Lift the pork out and drain it well on a rack for ten minutes.
Dry the pieces properly before frying. Wet pork in hot oil spits violently and steams instead of browning.
Heat the frying oil to 190°C and fry the pork in batches for four to five minutes, until deep brown and crusted at the edges.
Drain, salt lightly, and serve hot with pikliz piled on top, fried plantain, and rice with beans.

Notes

Braise then fry: both stages are needed. Make the pikliz days ahead. Sour orange is correct and a mixture of orange and lime is the accepted substitute. Dry the pork before it goes into the oil. Epis keeps in the refrigerator for a fortnight and in the freezer for months, and Haitian cooks make it in large batches. The reduced braising juices, strained, make a sauce that is poured over at the table.

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control