Our cookbook of the week is The Caribbean Cookbook by Rawlston Williams.
Soar to the recipes: Jamaican jerk rooster , Trinidadian pholourie and Haitian seafood Creole .
Hailing from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, chef Rawlston Williams adopted his curiosity for his cookbook debut. With greater than 380 recipes, The Caribbean Cookbook (Phaidon, 2026) options residence cooking from throughout the area. Williams rose to culinary fame together with his now-closed Brooklyn restaurant, The Meals Sermon. He credit his urge for food for information for eager to take it on.
Williams joined his mother and father in New York in 1987, at 10 years previous. He had spent the earlier seven years in Questelles, a coastal village on the island of Saint Vincent, the place he was raised by household good friend Gloria Farrell, who taught him the right way to prepare dinner.
A former theology pupil, Williams says he was nonetheless rising as a Caribbean chef when he signed the guide deal in 2018. His early work was misplaced when his laptop was stolen, which ended up being fortuitous. “I realized extra. I used to be in a position to journey, uncover and be curious.”
This dialog has been edited and condensed for readability.
You write that when Phaidon approached you to write down this guide, your first response was disbelief. Why?
I felt as if I hadn’t paid my dues, per se. There have been different Caribbean eating places round me, which have been establishments and pillars in the neighborhood, and I used to be getting extra consideration than they have been, and I felt responsible about that.
I felt as if it wasn’t my flip but. However I noticed that typically, you’re completely different, however you don’t understand you’re completely different. I simply felt as if, “Hey, I’m certainly one of them.” At the very least, I’m making an attempt to be on that degree, however I used to be type of an outsider.
I didn’t develop up consuming meat. I didn’t develop up consuming the issues I used to be cooking. I grew up (Seventh-day Adventist) vegetarian, and so a lot of the issues that I prepare dinner are principally how I imagined them to be. I might at all times scent my neighbours’ cooking. I might at all times scent it when my pals have been making stewed rooster or making saltfish, and I used to be making seitan (wheat gluten) or lentils.
What made you modify your thoughts?
There are books which were written about Caribbean delicacies, however nothing of this degree, this complete. After which, I’m from a tiny island. I’m from a household that immigrated right here, and issues haven’t been straightforward for us. So it’s one thing to place in our again pockets as one thing that we’ve completed and completed. It’s one thing to make my mom happy with all her arduous work and her sacrifice.
It was one thing greater than me. If it have been about me alone, and one thing to deliver consideration to myself, or one thing that might deliver some mild to me, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be doing this interview if I wasn’t occupied with my tiny nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, or my mother, my brothers or my dad that I misplaced two years after I met him, once I got here to this nation.
How did your childhood in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines form you as a chef?
My mother got here to the US in 1980. She thought it could take just a few months, possibly a yr or so, to get the papers labored out with my dad, but it surely took seven years. These seven years are principally the muse of who I’m and what I’m.
I’m at all times reliving these seven years. The curiosity of seeing fishermen pulling their nets and seeing somebody go into the mountains, digging up floor provisions and coming down the hill. Exhausting work and mangoes and climbing timber. Elevating goats and making butter and roasting cacao to make chocolate for tea within the morning.
What was essential so that you can talk concerning the cuisines of the Caribbean within the guide?
It’s an affidavit to resilience and making the refuse style scrumptious. And despite the fact that we’re completely different, we’re a lot alike, as nicely.
One thing I noticed as I wrote the guide, doing analysis and chatting with people, is that we might not have met one another, however we’re all residing an identical life. Regardless that it’s completely different, we nonetheless have that (connection). It’s a resilient individuals and a resilient existence. You’re at all times making an attempt to do extra with much less.
JERK CHICKEN
Serves: 4
For the marinade:
1 bunch scallions (spring onions), chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 Scotch bonnet pepper, seeded for much less warmth
2 tbsp chopped recent thyme
1 tbsp floor allspice
1 tbsp darkish brown sugar
1 tsp floor cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp floor ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly floor black pepper
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp recent lime juice
For the rooster:
6 rooster leg quarters
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Step 1
Make the marinade: Mix all of the marinade substances right into a easy paste.
Step 2
Make the rooster: Rub the rooster with the salt and oil, then coat completely with the marinade. Place the rooster in a sealed container or bag and marinate within the fridge for at the very least 4 hours, ideally in a single day.
Step 3
Preheat a barbecue to medium warmth or an oven to 375F (190C/Fuel Mark 5).
Step 4
Grill or bake the rooster, turning often, till the pores and skin is caramelized and rooster cooked via, 35-45 minutes.
Step 5
Serve on a banana leaf-lined tray.
PHOLOURIE
Serves: 6
1/2 cup (100 g) yellow cut up peas, soaked in 2 cups (16 fl oz/500 mL) scorching water for 1 hour, then drained
2 cups (260 g) all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp yellow curry powder
1 tbsp floor cumin
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp salt
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped culantro (chadon beni) or cilantro
2 wiri wiri peppers, finely chopped (non-obligatory)
Vegetable oil, for frying
Scotch bonnet pepper, sliced, for garnish
Tamarind sauce or mango chutney , for serving
Step 1
Grind the soaked cut up peas to a rough paste in a blender or meals processor.
Step 2
Switch to a big bowl and add the flour, baking powder, curry powder, cumin, garam masala, salt, garlic, onion, herbs and wiri wiri peppers, if utilizing. Combine nicely.
Step 3
Step by step stir in 3/4 cup (6 fl oz/180 mL) water till a thick batter kinds that may drop simply from a spoon however isn’t runny. Use a little bit extra water, if wanted.
Step 4
Pour oil right into a deep, heavy pot to a depth of 2-3 inches (5-7.5 cm) and place over medium-high warmth till scorching however not smoking. Line a plate with paper towels.
Step 5
Drop spoonfuls of batter into the recent oil, being cautious to not crowd the pot, and fry till golden and overrated, 2-3 minutes on either side. Take away with a slotted spoon and drain on the paper towels.
Step 6
Garnish with thinly sliced Scotch bonnet pepper, and serve heat with tamarind sauce and mango chutney on the facet.
HAITIAN SEAFOOD CREOLE
Serves: 4
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp (15 g) butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp chopped recent thyme
1 inexperienced bell pepper, chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 lb (450 g) prawns, peeled and deveined
8 oz (225 g) fish fillets, reduce into chunks
8 oz (225 g) crab meat
1 Scotch bonnet pepper, complete
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly floor black pepper
1 1/2 cups (285 g) long-grain white rice
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp (15 g) butter
Make the seafood creole:
Step 1
In a big pot, warmth the vegetable oil and butter over medium warmth. Add the onion, garlic, thyme and bell pepper and sauté till softened, 2-3 minutes.
Step 2
Add the tomato paste and prepare dinner, stirring continuously, for two minutes till barely darkened and fragrant.
Step 3
Stir within the tomatoes, then add the prawns, fish, crab meat, Scotch bonnet, bay leaf and three/4 cup (6 fl oz/180 mL) water. Season with salt and pepper to style, then cowl and simmer, stirring often, for 30-40 minutes till the seafood is totally cooked and the sauce has thickened. The fish ought to flake simply and the shrimp must be pink and agency.
Make the rice:
Step 1
Rinse the rice below chilly water till the water runs clear.
Step 2
In a medium saucepan, mix the rinsed rice, 2 1/2 cups (20 fl oz/600 mL) water, the bay leaves, butter and a pinch of salt. Convey to a boil over medium warmth.
Step 3
As soon as boiling, cut back the warmth to low, cowl, and simmer for 15-18 minutes, till the rice is tender and the water is absorbed. Take away from the warmth and let sit, lined, for five minutes. Fluff with a fork and take away the bay leaves earlier than serving.
Step 4
Discard the Scotch bonnet pepper from the Creole earlier than serving, if desired. Serve in a deep bowl with the rice.
Recipes and pictures excerpted from The Caribbean Cookbook ©2026 by Rawlston Williams. Reproduced by permission of Phaidon. All rights reserved.
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