Knife And Pan

Caribbean “Anchor Drop” Stew

Alex Alvarez -

This Stew fed 8 cremmembers at Bitter End Yacht Club, Virgin Gorda, BVI. It was a high point in the journey before AnchorGate 2023. It is best consumed with a strong rum based cocktail (Mojitos!).

This Recipe is adjusted to feed 4 people.

Ingredients Quantity
Lamb / Beef cubes (Stew) 2 lbs
Rice (Medium/Long Grain) 2 cup dry
Beans 1/2 lb dry or 2 16oz cans
Tomato (Canned) 1 16oz can
Ginger 1" knob
Garlic 4 cloves
Onion (Large) 1 ct
Carrot (Medium) 1 ct
Coconut Milk (Full fat) 1 16oz can
Cilantro 1/4 cup
Curry Powder 2 tbsp
Cloves (Ground) 1 tsp
Thyme 2 tsp
Animal Fat or Neutral Oil 2 tsbp
(Optional) Bell or Spicy Pepper 1 ct

The cooking procedure consists of 4 steps: sweating, browning, deglazing and simmering.

-1. Soaking Beans

If using dry beans soak overnight. If possible (to reduce digestive issues) drain after a few hours, and top off with fresh water. Most pulses are midly toxic and as such require cooking to eat; it's generally considered best practice to drain the steeping liquid beause the offesive chemicals are water soluble and you will greatly reduce the presence in the final dish by discarding this liquid.

0. Prep

(If you want to save time and are skilled in prep work, you can in-line these prep steps as you're adding ingredients to the pot)

  • Finely chop the Onion
  • Peel the ginger with a knife or by scraping with a spoon. Slice into matchsticks and then cut crosswise into a fine dice.
  • Smash, peel and finely chop the garlic.
  • Medium dice the carrots.
  • Medium dice the lamb or beef.
  • Open tomato & coconut milk cans
From left to right: Garlic, ginger, onion. (Shallots were used here because it's all that was available. Use your allium of choice).
Medium chopped carrots on a cutting board.

1. Sweating

  • Heat a medium sauce pan or pot (e.g 5 qt pot) over medium heat.
  • Add oil and bring to temp.
  • Add onion and sweat until translucent.
  • Add ginger and cook until fragrant
  • Add garlic and cook until just golden brown.

2. Browning

  • Add lamb or beef and cook while turning infrequently so that meat browns evenly (IMPORTANT: this browning will introduce lots of flavor to the dish. Make sure to not burn)

2.5

  • Add carrots, and spices (curry powder, cloves, thyme) and stir. The carrots will release moisture and the pan should get visibly less crispy.
Browning the beef and carrots added. (Note gound beef was used because that is all that was available at the time of pictures)

3. Deglaze

  • Add tomatoes & juice into pan and stir. The acidity will remove the caramelized sugars from the pan
  • Add can of coconut milk, and stir.
  • Add beans.

4. Simmer

  • Bring to a simmer, and simmer for 1-1.5 hours to meld the flavors and cook the beans.
  • Make Rice.
  • Taste for salt & pepper and season to taste.
  • Add freshly chopped cilantro (or freshly ripped leaves) and serve.
Final dish, served over rice. (Note final color will depend on type of beans used).