I know I’m still basically at the beginning of the list, but so far I’ve cooked dishes only from Europe and Africa. Well, that changes in this post because it is time to explore the first country in America (the continent, not the USA ಠ_ಠ). What better way to explore a new continent than with a Caribbean country: Antigua and Barbuda!

Antigua and Barbuda is an archipelagic country in the Caribbean composed of two main islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and numerous other small islands. All together, they make up a country with an area of 440 km² (170 sq mi).

In 1632, it became a British colony. Independence was first proposed in the 1860s, and it became a fully independent country in 1981. Nowadays, Antigua and Barbuda is a member of the Commonwealth and a Commonwealth realm, being a constitutional monarchy with Charles III as its head of state.

According to the Human Development Index, it is a high-income country and one of the most developed countries in the Caribbean. It is also a member of the United Nations, the OECS, the Regional Security System, CARICOM, and the World Trade Organization.

The islands’ cuisine is mostly of European origin (UK and Portugal) combined with regional ingredients.

Some national foods include saltfish (cod), lobster (from Barbuda), ducana (a sweet dumpling made from sweet potatoes and coconut), and seasoned rice, similar to palau or arroz con pollo. Additionally, there are confections such as peanut brittle, sugar cake (made from coconut and sugar), fudge, and raspberry (a local drink), as well as tamarind stew (a sauce). The Antigua black pineapple is prized for its juicy, sweet flesh.

This week’s dish is simple because it’s basically grilled and does not require a lot of preparation, but I chose it because I feel it easily transmits the island’s flavors.

This week I decided to cook: pork chops with bananas and bacon.

Pork chops with bananas and bacon is considered to be a favorite of many meat lovers in the country. As the name of the dish suggests, this Antiguan delicacy comprises grilled or barbecued pork chops accompanied by bacon-wrapped grilled banana chunks.

This week I’m glad I didn’t have to go hunting for ingredients I’ve never heard of before or research cooking techniques. It’s not that I don’t like it — I’m all for it, and I want to learn as much as possible and try many new ingredients. But at least for one week, I get to rest a bit.

This time, I was able to find all the ingredients at my supermarket with just one trip. And I’m going with the version that uses beer to give it more flavor.

For this recipe, I found that it can be cooked on a grill or in the oven. I don’t have a grill at home (yet), and I didn’t want to use the oven for this one because I wanted to achieve a flame flavor. So I cooked the chops on a volcanic stone griddle that I recently bought.

As I mentioned before in the preparation, instead of using a grill or the oven, I used a volcanic stone griddle. It was definitely different because it’s not a pan that only heats from the bottom up and doesn’t transmit any additional flavor. And it’s definitely not an oven, where the heat comes from all around and stays constant. In this case, the griddle was a cool and different way to cook because it gives the meat another layer of flavor, and it allows me to work with intense heat and flames that would normally damage a regular pan.

As for the dish, it wasn’t a complex one, but it turned out to be delicious and flavorful.

The mix of butter, cumin, and beer gives the meat a rich flavor. The bacon wrapped around the banana has that unique combination of sweet and salty crispiness, balancing the whole thing.

And while the original recipe does not include a salad, I threw in some leaves because, don’t forget to eat your greens!

This easy-to-prepare dish landed among my girlfriend’s favorite dishes, and in my top three… so far.

I don’t need to find and prepare a dish with a bazillion strange ingredients I’ve never heard of. At the beginning, I thought it might be too simple or too common. And yeah, it was simple, but not common.

Before this dish, I never thought of wrapping bananas with bacon. Or coating pork chops with a mix of butter and herbs. I believe what made this dish a success is that I tried new flavor combinations, and I love that.

The second thing I learned is that it’s always fun to cook with different techniques and instruments.

This was my first time cooking with the volcanic stone griddle because I just bought it almost two weeks ago, and it was really fun. It doesn’t need any oil, so I placed the pork chops directly on it and they didn’t stick. When pouring the beer, the flames grew, which not only makes it look cool, but also provides a different kind of flavor and temperature — and my griddle is not damaged.

For the next dish, we’ll remain on the same continent, but we’ll head south for the first Latin American country: Argentina!