Around the World in 80 Dishes: Dominican Republic

When it comes to my personal culinary challenge, Around the World in 80 Dishes, the selection of the country is sometimes left to chance and sometimes intentional.  When my beautiful Angel purchased sixteen pounds of goat meat for me to cook, that led to some specific challenges.  There was the Guyanese Goat Curry, which satisfied the challenge to make a main dish from the country of Guyana.  Then there was the Jollof Rice with Goat, which satisfied the challenge for the country of Ghana.  A couple of other specific challenges followed, which involved Tonga and, most recently, Myanmar. 

Now, I am returning to the random country selection. The first country that came up was the Dominican Republic; and, quite coincidentially, the main course to be selected is Chivo Guisado, or goat stew.  However, before I get to the challenge, some background is necessary. 

The Dominican Republic lies in Greater Antilles, sharing the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Long before any European set foot on the island, the Taino people called the land their home.  Since about 650 A.D., the Taino fished, farmed and hunted across the island. (The Taino may have been the people whose cooking inspired what ultimately became known as barbecue.)  By the time European explorers reached the island in 1492, there were five Taino kingdoms with a combined population of more than one hundred thousand people. Four years later, the first permanent European (Spanish) settlement was founded at Santo Domingo.  With the rise of Spanish, the Taino fell. The Europeans  found gold on the island and established mines.  The Spanish conscripted the native Taino to work in the gold mines, exploiting the workers who endured horrible conditions.  Eventually, the Spanish exhausted both the mines and the native Taino.  As focus turned to agriculture (such as sugarcane) and other industries, and, the need for labor increased, the Spanish brought African slaves to the island. 

The colonial history continued for centuries, but the peoples of what would become the Dominican Republic declared their independence from Spain in 1821.  The turbulence continued for decades, first with a united Hispaniola country and then another war of independence in 1844 that resulted in the Dominican Republic. The troubles continued for many more decades, until the 1970s, when peace and stability finally took hold in the country.  

MAIN COURSE

The foregoing is just a thumbnail sketch that does not do justice to the history of the country.  Nevertheless, that sketch provides the outline for the cuisine of the country.  A cuisine that still has its roots in the native Taino culture, with broad strokes of Spanish culinary influence, that are filled in by African  food traditions.  The food is a combination of meats, rice, beans, vegetables and stews.  This is what led me to the preparation of a guisado or stew.  The only question is what protein to use in the stew.  And, the answer led me to chivo or goat.

The use of goat in dishes is quite common throughout the Caribbean, and, it is no different in the Dominican Republic.  Goat meat is considered a special ingredient in the country's cuisine.  As the story goes, goats graze on the naturally growing oregano in the Dominican countryside, with the herb imparting its flavor in the meat.  (It also explains the use of oregano in the recipes, see below.)

So, with a lot of goat still on hand, I have decided to undertake the challenge of making Chivo Guisado or goat stew.  As one can expect, there is no one standard recipe, with each cook or chef preparing this dish with his or her own twists.  I pulled from two different recipes, one more traditional and one a little less traditiona. to make this dish.  The end result is a somewhat spicer stew with more of a tomato base, which I think follows more closely to what one would expect from this stew.  

CHIVO GUISADO

Recipe adapated from Manusmenu and Dominican Cooking

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the goat):

2.2 pounds of goat meat, with bones

1 orange, juiced

1/2 lime, juiced

2 bay leaves

1 white onion, diced 

1 bunch of cilantro (coriander)
1 cubanelle pepper, diced

4 plum tomatoes or 2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped

2 garlic cloves

Salt, to taste

3 tablespoons of oregano

Ingredients (for the braise):

2 tablespoons of oil

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of tomato sauce

Directions:

1.  Prepare the ingredients.  Cut the goat meat into smaller pieces (but do not trim the fat as it adds lots of flavor and keeps them meat soft.  Dice the onions, coriander and spring onions.  Put the garlic cloves, oregano and salt in a mortar and grind to a paste.

2.  Marinate the goat.  Put the goat meat in a big bowl and add all of the marinade ingredients. Mix well, cover the bowl and refrigerate it for a few hours or overnight.

3.  Braise the goat. Heat the oil and cook the sugar until it turns to a caramel color.  Be careful not to burn it.  Add the meat, with the marinade kept in reserve. Brown the goat meat on all sides.  Add the marinade, stir and add the tomato paste. 

4.  Cook the goat.   Add some water, little by little, and cook it over medium heat until the meat is very tender, about one and one-half hours.  Season to taste, serve with white rice and fried plantains.

SIDE DISH

No main course is complete without a side; and, one very popular side in Dominican cuisine is Tostones or fried plaintains.  I have to admit that this is my first effort cooking plaintains, so my expectations were not very high.  Nevertheless, I thiink the end result was pretty good.

TOSTONES

Recipe from Dominican Cooking

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 unripe plaintains, peeled and cut in 1 inch slices

1/2 cup oil

1 tablespoon salt (or more to taste)

1 chopped tomato

4 sprigs of parsley

1 clove garlic

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of sugar

Directions:

1. Prepare the dipping sauce.  Combine the tomato, parsley, garlic, black pepper and olive oil in a blender or food processor.  Pulse until thoroughly blended but not liquefied.

2.  Fry the plantains.  Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and fry the plantains until golden.  Remove from the oil and flatten to 1/4 of an inch.  Fry the plantains again until golden yellow again.  Serve immediately with the dipping sauce. 

BEVERAGE

It has been a long time since I prepared a drink in connection with my culinary challenges.  The last drink was Po Cha, a butter tea, that was part of my culinary special to prepare a Tibetan main course.  (It's hard to believe that it has been eight years since that culinary experience.)  For this challenge, I decided to make a papaya drink, which seems appropriate for this Caribbean challenge.   

BATIDA DE LECHOSA

Recipe from Dominican Cooking

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 cups of papaya, cut into cubes

3 cups of ice cubes

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 quart of evaporated milk

1/2 cup of sugar

Directions:

Put all of the ingredients (but only half of the sugar) in a blender and keep on high speed until the ice is blended.  Try and add more sugar if needed, blend for a few additional seconds. 

*     *   *

With my third goat challenge under my belt, I have to say that I am ready for a challenge involving another protein. Still, the Chivo Guisado turned out very well, and, I count this challenge as a success.  If I could improve upon it, I could have had a better cut of goat (one with less bones and connective tissue. The tostones and the batida de lechosa were both excellent and definitely something that I am going to keep in the back of my mind. Now, it is time to turn to the next challenge.  Until then ...

ENJOY!