Food and culture are inextricably linked. Cooking and eating together is social glue — a powerful means by which people solidify familial bonds.

Food is the most powerful of cultural expressions. It’s a passport that allows seamless travel across borders.

“Jamaican food is known and enjoyed across the world for its exotic flavour,” notes the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport in its Culinary Heritage publication. It continues: “What is now regarded as authentic Jamaican cuisine is an amalgam of foods from different cultures and people, including Tainos, Africans, European, Chinese and Indians. As each group of people came to Jamaica, they brought their own way of cooking, leaving their own delectable and indelible contribution to our culinary heritage.

“This culinary heritage includes the somewhat sacred Sunday lunch/dinner. How Jamaicans eat on a Sunday afternoon has roots in 15th-century England, where the Sunday roast was a celebration of the week and the coming together of the royal court. Without the exact ingredients, Jamaican cooks would come to tun dem han and mek fashion.

Traditional chicken fricassée is made with pieces of chicken simmered in a sauce made of cream and mushrooms. Early Jamaican cooks drew on their African ingenuity and employed techniques back home. By seasoning, marinating and browning the chicken, they developed a deep flavour without the need for expensive ingredients. This “brown stew” chicken dish has been with us since, and chicken has long been the choice protein for Jamaicans.

In pre-Independence Jamaica, buying a chicken that was already plucked and cleaned (“dressed” and ready for seasoning) was unheard of. Then, Jamaicans would raise chickens in their backyards and sell live birds to neighbours, family and friends. It was Jamaica Broilers founder Sydney Levy’s dream to change all that and provide the convenience of dressed chickens to all Jamaican households. The idea soon caught on, and Jamaicans began to request the succulent, tasty and economical “dressed” chicken by name. Cue: The Best Dressed Chicken.

Brown stew chicken holds a special place in the hearts of Jamaicans. From an early age, we’ve learned to appreciate the dish’s deep caramel, salty and spicy flavours. Top Chef host Kwame Onwuachi has Nigerian and Jamaican roots. In his recently published book My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef, he writes of his interaction with Jamaican chef Alex D’Great over brown stew chicken.

“My nostrils flared as memories flowed into me. This was one of the dishes I remembered from my childhood — not from my mother’s kitchen but from my father’s girlfriends — and it was a small bright spot of my time with him. Alex showed me how he first marinated the chicken with raw sugar, tomato and onions, garlic, scallions, allspice, Scotch bonnet peppers, and Pickapeppa sauce, a sort of Jamaican Worcestershire sauce. As we stood side by side, we cooked together: marinating, then searing the chicken, adding stock and a bit of ketchup. The smells bloomed around us, and when I brought the spoon to taste the stew, I felt at home again.”

Our palates are shaped, first and foremost, by our families of origin. That’s where we learn how to eat. And these culinary traditions are imperative to preserving culture and history. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), “Cultural elements that lack a physical form but are instead expressed through knowledge, skill or ritual are equally important to shaping living culture. These include artistic performances, festivals, social practices, oral heritage, craftsmanship, and of course, gastronomic traditions.”

In other words, through food, we make ourselves.

Alex D’Great’s Brown Stew Chicken

Ingredients

4 lbs The Best Dressed Chicken Mixed Parts

6 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 tsp all-purpose seasoning

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp ketchup

4 tbsp Pickapeppa sauce

2 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 stalk scallion, chopped

1 sprig thyme, chopped

2 Scotch bonnet pepper

1 tomato (diced)

1 clove garlic

1 onion, sliced

Method:

Put a Dutch pot or skillet with the oil to hot over medium heat. Remove the seasoning from the chicken pieces. Lower the heat (between medium/low). Put 3-4 pieces of chicken in the hot oil (depending on the size pot). Cover the pot and fry each side of the chicken until lightly brown (about 3-4 minutes, each side). Add all remaining ingredients and let simmer for 35 minutes.

Editor’s Note

Win! Win! Win!

The Best Dressed Chicken is giving away a Hamper for Independence

Here’s how you can win.

Read the article carefully and answer the following question:

WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE PERSON WHO INTRODUCED “DRESSED” TO JAMAICAN HOUSEHOLDS?

The first, correct answer received @whyten@jamaicaobserver.com will be gifted with The Best Dressed Chicken hamper.