Jamaican Solomon Gundy

Herrings have been used salted and used  for over a millennium in Europe and as Europeans arrived in Jamaica so their popularity in the Caribbean grew too, as well as the creation of  one of Jamaica’s most famous fish dishes, Solomon Grundy.

Solomon Grundy makes use of the herring’s small flakes of meat;this creamy fleshworks beautifully in a pâté blended with key Jamaican flavours such as bird peppers, and served on crackers.   We particularly like this pâté in that it is not just healthy but follows our policy of only using fish that is from sustainable fish stocks.

The term Solomon Grundy comes from the English word salmagundi which refers to a salad that uses lots of things, subsequently phonetically evolving into the Solomon Grundy of nursery rhyme fame as the rhyme grew in popularity.

It makes a wonderful lunch snack served with slices of cooling avocado and sweet roasted breadfruit and our guests really enjoy it as part of their Afternoon Tea.  If you are giving a Thanksgiving party next week we recommend serving this as canapés whilst waiting for everyone to arrive; for those that aren’t too keen on ‘spicy’, serve the crackers with a layer of cream cheese.

Solomon Grundy Recipe

Ingredients

1 kg. Smoked Herring
4 onions, finely chopped
4 stalks scallion, finely chopped.
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup vinegar
4 cloves garlic
1-2 tsp of finely chopped Bird Chilli according to taste

Method

Clean and remove bones and rinse in water to remove excess salt; flake the fish.

Blend all ingredients together. Flavour and season to taste.

Store and keep in the fridge.