Top 3 Barbadian Seafood Dishes

This popular Barbadian pasta dish is made with long, tubular macaroni, butter, cheese, eggs, milk, onions, mustard, ketchup, and either red pepper sauce or cayenne pepper for extra spiciness. The dish is baked as a casserole and is usually garnished with breadcrumbs and grated cheese on top. Flying fish is typically served on the side after it has been dipped in batter and breadcrumbs, then fried. Many visitors can try this delicious dish because it is sold at numerous locations throughout the island, and it is also a common lunch option for many Bajan workers.Expand

A cutter is a type of Barbadian sandwich made with Bajan salt bread – which is a white flour bread roll characterized by its crusty exterior and a tender, fluffy interior. Insert a fillet of fried flying fish inside the bread roll, and you will have made yourself a flying fish cutter, popular throughout the island and sold at numerous food joints on Barbados. Before frying, flying fish fillets are often soaked in lime juice and salt, then seasoned with a variety of spices such as thyme, onions, garlic, parsley, basil, marjoram, and scotch bonnet peppers. It is recommended to add tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce into the cutter to make it even more appetizing.Expand

Coo-coo, also known as cou cou, is the first half of coo-coo and flying fish, the national dish of Barbados. It is a well-seasoned, wet polenta with bits of okra mixed in it, working great with savory sauces like Sauce Creole. It is said that if a man finds any lumps in his coo-coo, he is free to throw his wife out of the house. Obviously, the coo-coo needs to be stirred and beaten until the texture becomes silky smooth and tender. The other half of the dish, flying fish, is part of the national emblem of Barbados as it is extremely important to the local economy. They are small and silver-blue in color, with fins that look similar to the wings of dragonflies. The boats are specially designed to catch the fish who rise out of the sea, and once caught; they are filleted and seasoned with onions, parsley, thyme, garlic, red pepper, salt, paprika, and lime juice. Once they are seasoned, the fillets are fried or steamed and served on top of the coo-coo, making a colorful, unique, and flavorful meal.Expand