Cayman Islands-based Food Network chef Dylan Benoit celebrates the region’s favorite spirit and offers a sinful rum-infused recipe
Created in the Caribbean by Caribbean people, rum is now embraced around the world – an essential presence in any self-respecting bar and restaurant. It has become a lifestyle brand. Just the word conjures up images of white sand beaches, sunny skies, palm trees and good times with family or friends – especially if enjoyed on a cold New York or Toronto evening in February.
Until recently, rum was fighting for a place in international markets. Only a select few producers and brands had global reach, resulting in a bland and inaccurate representation of what Caribbean rums were. Specialty rums and small producers mostly moved to their respective regions, and connoisseurs would travel far and wide in search of new and interesting brands.
However, the alcohol industry has boomed in recent decades, and the growth of the global village and easier international shipping have made fine rums more accessible around the world. You can pick up your favorite Caribbean rums—like Trinidad’s Angostura, Guyana’s Demerara, Jamaica’s Appleton or Barbados’ Mount Gay—at fine liquor stores in many countries and even order them online.
For many of us in the Caribbean, rum flows figuratively (and for some perhaps literally) through our veins. There is a wide variety of styles and flavors: some are light, others more caramel and some are dark. Many of them are sweet and gentle, others more bold, strong and courageous. Some are born high in the mountains and others (like that in the Cayman Islands) spend most of their lives aging under the surface of the sea, where the tidal movement of the water helps the rum interact with its wooden casks and accelerates. the aging process. Some are from a single district, a pure representation of their location, while others are a blend of the best the Caribbean has to offer.
Regardless of color or country, the people of the Caribbean are extremely proud of this precious elixir that we are proud to call our own.
Recipe:
Sticky Banana Pudding with Coffee
Rum candy sauce
4 tablespoons of butter
½ cup dark corn syrup
¹⁄³ cup light brown sugar
¹⁄³ cup heavy cream
¼ cup (or more) rum of your choice
Stir in the heavy cream and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and add rum. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
In a small sauce pot, combine the butter, corn syrup and sugar.
Over medium heat, stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture bubbles.
Stir in the heavy cream and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and add rum.
Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Banana cake
½ stick butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 spoon of baking powder
1 spoon of salt
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 large eggs
In a small bowl, mix the baking soda with the mashed banana and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl mix the butter, sugar and an egg, then add half the flour mixture and half the mashed banana and mix well.
Add the second egg and the remaining flour mixture and mashed banana.
Mix the dough well and pour it into the buttered and floured ramekins.
Bake at 350˚F for 12-15 minutes or until center is set.
Remove and let cool slightly before removing from ramekin and topping with caramel sauce (above) and vanilla ice cream.
Chef Dylan Benoit is a Canadian chef, restaurateur, writer and television host, now based in the Cayman Islands. Dylan can be found cooking as a personal chef throughout the Caribbean when he’s not in Canada waiting. Masters of fire (Food Network Canada, Cooking Channel US and Blaze TV UK).
Spirit of the Caribbean
No one knows for sure who drank the first dose of fine Caribbean rum. But it was around 1650, and it was in Barbados: enslaved workers on the sugar plantations of Barbados discovered that molasses, a by-product of sugar production, could be boiled down to alcohol.
The new beer was powerful: they called it devil-slayer, demon water, noise (suggesting fun, abundance and uproar). A notorious Barbadian document of 1651 said: “The chief brew they make in the island is Rumbullion, otherwise known as Kill-Divil, and this is made of sugar-cane distilled, a hot, devilish, and terrible drink.”
Soon, rumbullion was shortened to simply rum, and a thriving industry grew and spread. By 1654, Connecticut had to confiscate all “Barbados liquors, commonly called kill the devil and the like.” But Staten Island opened a rum distillery; so is Boston. Pirates loved rum, Atlantic slavers traded it, French brandy merchants feared it. The British Navy gave its sailors a daily tot; George Washington ordered a cask of Barbados rum for his inauguration, and Australia even had a “Rum Rebellion”.
The world’s oldest surviving rum distillery, Mount Gay, was opened in 1703 – fittingly in Barbados.
– Jeremy Taylor
