The History and Recipe behind the original fusion cuisine!

Hey y’all! I’m Cally and I’m glad you’re here!

For my first actual blog post on this reboot, I wanted to start out with a topic that I am incredibly passionate about…..food! Specifically good food! I have been cooking and baking since I was old enough to help without being in the way! I was very fortunate to grow up in a family with a variety of different backgrounds and that has defiantly influenced me. 

I was raised in south Florida and surrounded by a very large family. Just about everyone cooked in some fashion. We had influences from all over the country and the globe and everyone always put their own spin on things. This gave me a huge appreciation for different regions and cuisines. And I learned early on, how these could be combined in ways to elevate the dish is some way. The food was fine in its traditional format, but when a spice or element from somewhere else was added, a whole new experience was created. 

This was where I first learned to appreciate fusion food. Basically, you take a dish from one region and put another regions spin on it. You are fusing the two regions or cultures together in a harmonious fashion that creates a mouthwatering concoction to please just about any palate. When done properly, fusion cooking is a beautiful dance between two seemingly different partners, who melt together in a duet for all of the senses. 

Humans have traveled for centuries, bringing with them new spices and techniques to the new places they went, and carrying home learned tactics to influence their region. So the idea is not new and many of the traditional foods we enjoy today, were in fact fusion meals at one point in their history. Today I want to talk about one of the first fusion meals to be created in the new American South well before the war between the states. It’s called the Country Captain and has its roots in India’s spice rich culture. 

The dish is fairly simple but packed with flavor. At the time, in the south, plantations dotted the countryside, with slaves from various African countries cooking for the owners. These owners would either have traveled to other countries themselves or had friends and acquaintances who traveled the globe. This was also during a time when the spice trade was still alive and prospering, so when the plantation owners would have dinner guests that they wanted to impress, serving them dishes packed with spices and flavors from other countries was a way to show wealth and prosperity without being obvious about it. They would procure these new flavors and give them to their kitchen slaves who would work their magic and create a masterpiece. And this is how the Country Captain came to be. Having its roots in India, also meant that our Captain probably had some British influences as well, because at the time of the immigration of these spices, India was still under British rule, meaning affluent and well-bred Brits were spending a ton of time in India, basically acting as reagents for the Crown to keep the country in line. It was also a popular destination for rich tourists and heirs who needed a gap year of finding themselves before taking on the family obligation of marrying and starting the next generation of aristocrats. But these are stories for a different post! Back to the Captain…..

This simple, one pot dish (besides the rice, if that is your vessel of choice for the beautiful pot liquor) is spatchcocked (basically butterflied) poultry or game fowl, cooked in its own stock with bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and garlic. Almonds and currants are added for texture and the whole pot is seasoned with an aromatic curry powder. The spices are obviously India’s gift to the dish and the way the poultry or fowl is prepared is the Southern inspiration. Often times, the chicken would be browned in bacon fat or grease (obviously not an Indian technique!) before simmering. Southerners would use whatever type of fowl they had on hand, but chicken has become the most popular meat used, because of the convenance of procuring it. This dish could be made with duck (with additional fats being used) or even smaller game birds, such as quail or pheasant. In India, poultry is fairly popular, but the country has a rich tradition of elevating vegetarian dishes, and that is where this recipe got it’s start. The Americas popularized adding meat to the vegetables and spices. The dish has traditionally been served over rice in both countries, which makes sense. Rice is still a leading grain for Indian cuisine and at the time of invention in the South, rice was a major crop for the southern states. Both as an export and to feed the population. Rice, like the spices in this dish, was also an import to the South and helped to establish the region as a powerhouse on the global trade market. Rice carried the south and it can even be said that the south was built heavily on it. (Probably another good idea for an interesting blog post!)

It is thought that British Sea Captains, working for the East India Company, would have been the ones to bring these spices to the America’s, specifically through Savanah and Charleston. The name has a few different stories of origin. It is said that the British officers serving in Indian sub content at the time were called Country Captains, but the captains of the trade ships at the time were also called the same name. It is also possible that Country refers to Indian goods at the time, to distinguish them from British goods, and that captain is a bastardization of capon, which is Latin for an older rooster, which is quite possibly the first type of fowl used in this dish in America, due to the fact that the recipe calls for the ingredients to simmer on the stove on low heat for a while. The perfect way to utilize an older bird who could no longer service on the plantation, but whose meat would have been too tough to cook any other way. 

The dish was first featured in cook books in the late 1800’s and really gained more than regional popularity in the 1950’s, as an easy, but flavorful meal for housewives to make on a budget. Many famous chefs have put their own spin on the dish, furthering its fusion heritage. President Franklin D Roosevelt enjoyed the dish in Warm Springs GA and became a lifelong fan. FDR loved it so much, that he introduced it to General Geroge S Patton, and it became his all-time favorite dish. This gave the Country Captain the distinct honor of being included in the US Army’s Meal Ready to Eat Rations in 2000 and it was a staple for the next 4 years. Queen Elizabeth II had it served at her Diamond Jubilee celebration in 2012 as a nod to India’s part in British history (she was also a huge fan of Chef Cyrus Todiwala’s version of Country Captain, where he added potatoes as his own spin on the dish, fusing it essentially a Scottish classic, Shepherds Pie). 

Country Captain is a considered one of the first fusion dishes and has lasted the tests of time. It has circumnavigated the globe multiple times and has adapted to whatever culture it lands in with ease and appreciation. I have included the recipe that I use when I make this timeless dish, but please, feel free to put your own spin on it and fuse it with your own family’s history and traditions. The Captain won’t mind, I promise. He enjoys learning about new cultures and traveling to far and distant lands! 

I hope you have the Best Day of Your Life and come back soon! I’m not sure what we’ll be covering, but I can promise you, there’s a pretty good chance it will be entertaining at the very least!

Country Captain Recipe 

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• COUNTRY CAPTAIN
  • 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp. bacon fat
  • 1 whole chicken (cleaned and cut into the spatchcock fashion), patted dry with paper towels and seasoned with coarse salt and ground black pepper
  • 2 cups diced yellow onion
  • 2 cups diced celery
  • 2 cups diced green bell pepper
  • 1 fresh hot chile pepper, seeded and minced
  • 1 tsp. chopped garlic
  • Homemade curry powder (recipe below)
  • 2 cups good-quality canned tomatoes, chopped 1 cup tomato juice (reserved from can)
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/2 cup seedless raisins
• HOMEMADE CURRY POWDER
  • 1 tbsp. ground ginger
  • 2 tsp. ground cumin
  • 2 tsp. ground cardamom
  • 1/2 tsp. ground tumeric
  • 2 tsp. Hungarian paprika
  • 2 tsp. freshly ground coriander
  • 2 tsp. freshly ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. freshly ground clove
  • 1 pinch cayenne pepper
  • 1 pinch Colman’s mustard powder
  • 1 pinch dried thyme

PREPARATION

1. Place large Dutch oven (in which the chicken fits in a single layer) over moderate heat, and melt butter and bacon fat until slightly foaming, about 3 to 5 minutes. Raise heat, add chicken, and brown well on all sides. Remove crisped pieces to platter, continuing until all pieces are golden brown.
2. Lower heat to moderate and add the onion, celery, peppers, and garlic, using a wooden spoon to stir well.
3. Slowly add curry powder, stirring well to evenly coat all the vegetables, and cook until they are tender, stirring frequently, about 7 to 10 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes, tomato juice, stock, and bay leaves, 
and stir well, scraping the bottom of the pot to loosen any browned bits.
5. Bring liquid to simmer, return chicken to pot, and cover tightly.
6. Cook on top of the stove over low flame until chicken is cooked through, about 35 to 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. To serve: Transfer chicken to beds of rice in shallow bowls, sprinkle with raisins and serve surrounded by condiments 
like grated toasted fresh coconut, thinly sliced scallions, crushed roasted peanuts or almonds, green tomato or apple chutney, pickled hot peppers, or pickled okra.