Christmas is a couple of days away, evident in the gentle cool winds we are experiencing in the evenings, the famous “Jamaican Christmas Breeze”. This year you have noticed that I have not covered Christmas lunch or dinner outside of my baked ham feature. I wanted to do something different. The challenge of being a food writer when Christmas or Easter rolls around is falling into the trap of being repetitive. I shy away from “sameness” and wanted to focus on another important aspect: traditional Jamaican breakfast, the ones we look forward to after morning church service or after a leisurely lie-in.

I believe that having a good breakfast or brunch is an ideal way to begin this important day, which falls on a weekend this year and sets the tone for the feast to come in later hours. There is no excuse not to capture this rare downtime. We’re not rushing off to work barely munching on a piece of toast, some cereal and gulping down our morning tea or coffee as we run for the door. Some days we are so busy we don’t even get to eat the most critical meal of the day. Christmas is the perfect time to savour this leisurely morning repast with our families.

As good fortune would have it, a splendid opportunity with perfect timing fell into my lap to host Saveur Magazine’s Senior Editor Betsy Andrews and photographer Landon Nordeman who were on assignment in Jamaica, and I had the chance to welcome them into my home. Coincidentally they were here researching Jamaican breakfast! I giggled with glee and almost fell off my chair when Michelle Toyloy Carter of the Jamaica Tourist Board called to inform me. Saveur is one of my all-time favourite international food magazines. It is an esteemed publication and appeals to the intellectual foodie. What impresses me about Saveur is that they truly capture the essence of the global cuisine which they cover. It is then no surprise that the tagline on its cover reads: “Savor a World of Authentic Cuisine”.

Some of the world’s top food personalities are contributing editors like renowned chefs – Britain’s popular French chef Raymond Blanc of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and American Rick Bayless – whose famous gourmet Mexican is in high demand. Food writers such as authorities on Indian and Italian cuisine respectively Madhur Jaffrey and Lidia Bastianich are also on the list of contributors amongst other well-known gourmands. Is it any wonder this well-appointed publication retains such high respect?

Trust me, I made sure they got the authentic deal. I demonstrated a mackerel run-down recipe, which has passed down through five generations of my family in a Dutch pot – that is older than me – in my kitchen, so that Betsy and Landon could capture each step to share with their readers. Unfortunately, I did not have fresh ackee at the time, but I knew that throughout their islandwide journey they would experience it.

They were accompanied by the Jamaica Tourist Board representative, the affable Jerron Britton. We were also joined by my dear friends, down-to-earth bon vivants Mike and Robin Lumsden of Belcour, who brought everyone gifts of their amazing honey, chutneys and jams. We spent the afternoon along with my parents and another family friend Clive Larmond discussing the wonderful tradition of Jamaican breakfast foods, as well as shoot the food for Saveur with Garfield Robinson, a member of my other special family, the Jamaica Observer, whose photographers are like brothers to me. Garfield captured the moment for Thursday Food readers in his inimitable style.

I shared with Betsy, who has been with Saveur since September 2009 and who also reviews restaurants for the New York Times, how I fell in love with Jamaican food via my grandmother as a little girl growing up in the UK and how I discovered much more when I lived in Jamaica for the first time as a teenager. Both my grandmother and mother tried to teach me about Jamaican foods then, but frankly I wasn’t really interested at the time. Eventually, however, I grew to love and appreciate grew to love and appreciate what they were teaching me as I got older.

Traditional breakfast would have included, and still does for some who continue to maintain it, “chawklit tea” (Jamaican hot chocolate made from real cocoa – chocolate balls are found in markets and supermarkets), hard dough bread (some slices enthusiastically dipped in the hot chocolate), fried dumplings, ackee and saltfish, roast breadfruit or for those not doing ackee, mackerel run-down or callaloo and saltfish.

Another interesting one I’ve heard from Larmond who originates from Manchester, was that when he was a child, tripe was smoked in the wood fire kitchen on the kreng kreng (see, it pops up again, I have to find one for myself), then on Christmas morning it was fried in coconut oil mixed with saltfish and eaten with purple St. Vincent yam. He also told me about “bush”cabbage with saltfish and green banana and dumplings. The bush cabbage isn’t round and densely folded like the regular cabbage we see in supermarkets; the leaves are open, lush and green.

We had a debate on mackerel run-down and why it has this name or “dip an’ fall back” as some call it. All in all it was a fun afternoon. Other additions to traditional Christmas breakfast from what I’ve mentioned, and depending on a family’s wealth, would include British touches such as bacon and eggs, muffins plus eggnog.

I am sure Betsy and Landon have returned to New York as experts on Jamaican breakfast, as they travelled all around the island sampling rustic but delicious Jamaican breakfast fare from porridge to fried dumplings. Today, I share with you the brunch I shared with Saveur Magazine.

Please note, as I will be on vacation, I won’t be able to respond to reader emails until the New Year. I am wishing you compliments of the season as well as peace, love and joy for you and your loved ones.

JuicyChef’s Christmas Brunch Menu

Stamp and Go with home-made tartar sauce, mango chutney and Belcour Pepper Jam

Mum’s Rum Punch (welcome drink)

Mavis’s Mackerel Run-down

Baked Ham (see the Observer December 9th edition for recipe) with Belcour Sorrel Chutney

Mini Rustic Callaloo Quiches

Mini Bammies

Fried Ripe Plantain

Fried Green Plantain

Boiled Green Bananas

Roast Breadfruit

Banana Bread with Rum-Soaked Raisins

June Plum Juice

Sorrel

Mavis’s Mackerel Rundown

I’ve named this dish after my beloved late grandmother Mavis Frazer who learned this from her grandmother who passed it on to my mother and me. This traditional breakfast dish is typically eaten with boiled green bananas and roast breadfruit. The annatto tree bears seeds that grow inside prickly pods. My mother also shared that her grandfather would sometimes add “red ginger”, what we know as turmeric, to his mackerel run-down. This recipe serves 8 to 10.

Ingredients:

4 pickled mackerels, sliced

2 cans coconut milk plus 500ml/2 cups water

1 onion, finely diced

4 stalks of escallion, green parts only, finely sliced

2 ripe plummy tomatoes, diced

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 tbsp whole pimento grains

1 tbsp annatto seeds

1 whole Scotch bonnet pepper

2 fat sprigs of fresh thyme

Cracked black pepper to taste

Method:

In a Dutch pot, pour in coconut milk and water over high heat, boil, and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half.

In a cup, place annatto seeds and add some of the hot coconut milk, stir, then leave for a couple of minutes to turn a yellow orange colour and pour back into the pan.

When the liquid has reduced by half, add everything but the mackerel and continue to simmer until it starts getting thick.

Add the mackerel slices and continue reducing until an oil forms at the top and the sauce heavily coats the back of a spoon. It should have a nice custard colour.

Serve with accompaniments.

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Bon Appétit and Merry Christmas!