Macaroni pie – definitely not ordinary
Hi Everyone, Here in Barbados, the ability to make a “proper” dish of Macaroni Pie is testament to your ability to cook and some say it even makes you eligible to be a good wife. No pressure there at all! Macaroni and Cheese or Macaroni Pie enjoys a place of prominence at dining tables all across the Caribbean, especially for traditional Sunday meals.
Macaroni Pie (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)
Macaroni Pie is taken very seriously. For each country and household, there are certain standards and criteria that must be met before the dish can even be considered Macaroni Pie. These range from the shape of pasta, the ingredients for the cheese sauce, the crust or topping, the colour of the pie and finally, the texture of the finished dish.
Like many households, Macaroni Pie made a regular appearance on Sundays on our dining table. I’m not a big fan of the favoured Macaroni Pie and I never liked my mom’s Macaroni Pie and I still don’t. Sorry Mom. The reason I don’t like hers is because she never puts enough salt into the dish. Her pie always looks outstanding and it bears all the hallmarks of a good Guyanese Macaroni Pie from crust to texture, but I found that it tastes bland. (I am so going to be disowned).
Since my mom insisted on Macaroni Pie as part of the Sunday meal, I decided one weekend that I wanted to make the pie. I was allowed to do so with a warning, “Make the sauce nice just like I make it.” I did everything I’d seen my mom do except that I salted the boiling water to suit my taste. As many of you know, cooking pasta in an adequately salted pot of boiling water is the main way of adding taste to the pasta. When I made the cheese sauce, again I seasoned it with a little salt. That same day, a dear family friend of ours, Auntie Olga (rest her soul) came to lunch. As the dishes were being passed around, she said to me, “Only put a little piece of the Macaroni Pie for me.” As she ate, she complimented Mommy on the pie. I swear to you that was the first time I had ever heard Auntie Olga compliment mommy on her Macaroni Pie. She always complimented on the other dishes, but never the pie. I knew immediately what she was responding to and before mommy could respond, I said, “I made the Macaroni Pie today.” Auntie Olga smiled.
Later, while I was at the sink washing the dishes, she came up to me and whispered, “I like your pie better than your mother’s.” It was not necessary for her to state why, I knew why.
Bucatini pasta aka macaroni (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)
Moving to Barbados, I found myself in the Macaroni Pie capital of the Caribbean. This dish is consumed daily and a Sunday meal without Pie would be incomplete. I noticed immediately that the pie here was different in looks and taste. The Bajan Pie has more of an orange tint colour and the taste is sharper, it’s delicious and very different from the pie made in Guyana and the ones I’ve had in Jamaica, Trinidad and Grenada. The secrets would begin to unravel when, one day, I saw well-known Barbadian Chef, Peter Edey add tomato ketchup to the macaroni as he tossed it with the cheese sauce. I was shocked but intrigued. I thought to myself, that’s why pie has such a different colour!
In talking with many Bajan cooks for this column, I learnt even more about what makes a “proper” Bajan Macaroni Pie for them. Apart from the white roux (a mixture of butter and flour) to which milk and cheese are added, other ingredients such as mustard, ketchup, onions, thyme, garlic, white pepper, green bell peppers, parsley, and salt are also added. Hence the sharp taste of the pie with almost a tang that lingers in the background. Some like to top their pies with slices of tomatoes and grated cheese while others put a combination of cheese and breadcrumbs. One cook says she likes to put dots of ketchup on top of the pie as well.
When it comes to the pasta itself, Macaroni Pie means that the dish is made with Bucatini (long hollow pasta). In these parts, it is simply known as macaroni. However, there are a few, myself included, who prefer the elbows for Macaroni Pie.
Many cooks said they prefer the texture of their pie when served to be in one piece, held together. The key here is ensuring that the sauce has enough cheese so that it will firm up as the pie cools, holding the pasta together. Patience is a virtue to be encouraged when comes to cutting of the Macaroni Pie; let it rest for a while before cutting it.
Macaroni Pie is truly a dish of individual taste and often when pot-luck entertaining, the hosts prefer to make the pie themselves or give that most precious of tasks to someone who they know will make it to suit their taste. I know that that task will never fall to me in a Barbadian setting, not because I may not be asked to but because I would refuse if asked, out of fear that my cooking abilities would be called into question and heaven forbid, I may not be good wife material after all!
Cynthia
tasteslikehome@gmail.com
www.tasteslikehome.org
Hello Cynthia,
I love macaroni pie but it never comes out well. I was disappointed when you did not give the recipe how you prepare yours
Yeah. this article is a tease… especially when you don’t give the recipe.
Where can I get it? My mouth is watering
Please send me an email at: tasteslikehome@gmail.com and I will send you the recipe.
oh ok. I just did! AWESOME!
Wow this looks gr8.
tastelikehome: I am average reader of your column….I’m reminded of home with your mouthwatering, water finger licking receipts! My favorite dish is Mac & Cheese…and “Mustard”,essentially the secret ingredient, was added for that extra kick….
Cynthia,
I have a very important assignment for you, On my recent visit to Guyana, I discovered that they lost the Mauby formula.
They served me glass after glass of sweetened bitter swill, that is not mauby period. A friend told me that they also lost the toddy formula, you remember that frothy milky drink that they sold in the market place.
They also lost the original, far east / National restaurant low mein formula, not only in Guyana but in America and Canada. Whatever they are selling us as lowmein is anything else but.
I will have to reintroduce the authentic Low Mein formula back into the culture. The mauby and toddy is out of my league, so that is where you come in, you need to launch an immediate investigation, to find the culprits who lost these ancient formulas and drag them into the courts of culinary justice.
We have also lost another important culinary institution and that is the cookup rice stand under the tree at the market place. We also need to the cook to be preferably male and gay ( I am being politically correct here)
All my friends were anxious to take me to the latest food import eateries. I said no, I want to go eat a real old fashioned cookup under the tree at the market place. I was really saddened when told that they exist no more.
Joe.
Hi Joe, It is very true that a lot of those old time techniques and methods of preparing certain things are dying out and that is simply because people have become busy and don’t have the time for slow-food anymore. It is all about fast food to keep up with the fast pace of life. It is also about shortcuts that take away rather than add to the flavour and taste. I for one am going to try to do my best to record and retain some of the old practices.
Let me direct you to my past column on mauby which you can find at this link: http://www.stabroeknews.com/the-scene/tastes-like-home-19/
Also if you follow this link to my blog, you will see the mauby recipe handed down to me through generations, it has never failed to me my standard of an ice-cold glass of mauby and it’s a recipe that my mom has been making for ages that used to sell like wild fire at the fairs at Sacred Heart Church: http://www.tasteslikehome.org/2007/01/mauby-bark-drink.html
Can you send me the recipe for the macaroni pie please.
Cynthia could you please send me the receipe for macaroni and cheese pie please. I want to make it for my family for Christmas.
Thank You.
Wow, Cynthia, it did not even occur to me that your were a live person, I had the impression that you were a computer programme, just spilling our recipes. LOL
Here’s another of my funny little stories, on my incoming flight to Guyana, Delta gave me a wad of silly putty, which they called a turkey wrap. On my flight out, I was determined to find any alternative, so I went into one of the little shacks, that the president plans to break down, and ordered 6 egg balls and one eddoe leaf with beef and roti.
My wife was mad by the time I got back, since I left her to struggle with all the suitcases, I pleaded that I now have real food in my possession, she bluntly said she is not interested in my food, and placed me in the dog house.
So on the flight, they started serving their snacks, my wife got another wad of silly putty, which they now called a turkey, crossaunt sandwitch. Well your truly took out his container of 3 goldenbrown egg balls, and gingerly bit into one of them, my wife looked at her silly putty then at my snack, then she sheepishly said, “Joe can I please have an eggball”
Now do you know that food tasted like home, I do not know if it’s the water, the oil or method of cooking, just looking at the expression on my wife’s face as she bit into that eggball, I knew instantly that I was forgiven and out of the dog house.
This is a real story,my friends, I did not make it up, and just to prove it true, I have the shopkeepers name. It is Deneta Prowell and her shop is crack#5 (as in crack in the wall). I suggested that she should change the name, since it might attract the wrong customers, she laughed.
Readers might recall that the government was bulldozing these honest hardworking folks from the area, I say they should advise and assist them to set up more trendy shops, and allow Deneta to continue doing what she knows best,
That is cooking local foods that tastes like home, so the next time your are flying out, please support this good sister, my friends.
Joe.