This entire week I've been having these undying cravings for conch salad! For you readers who aren't familiar with the conch, it's a shelled mollusc that is very familiar to the waters of the Bahamas. It's also a staple in the diet of locals here in the Bahamas -kind of like burgers and hot dogs for Americans, wine for the French, paella for the Spanish. If you would imagine, in every household, at least one person, has some general knowledge of how to create this dish.So, after a photo shoot I did of a couple friends of mine, I went to the Port Lucaya Marketplace in search of some to finally rid myself of those nasty cravings.
Near the Count Basie Square along the marina, I found this gentlemen here, Mike, who was pleased to whip me up a tasty snack. Recently, with the weather being so hot (and humid), I tend to stay inside where it's much cooler. Normally, I would not dare to tolerate my need for conch salad (or any other craving for that matter) if it meant having to wait in the heat for however long it would take me to be served. However, the weather today was quite decent despite the few hours of rainfall which had occurred earlier.In fact, the wait wasn't long at all (about 3 minutes) and I was more than thankful for my salad.
Okay, so what's in the recipe? It's simple enough: onions, sweet peppers, lots of fresh lime juice, goat peppers, tomatoes, salt and, of course, conch. The trick is knowing how much of what to mix together. I'm sure anyone could make conch salad but to make great conch salad, it takes experience and a knowledge of what makes Bahamian food great.Biscous x
