My trip through the islands of Trinidad and Tobago continued in Couva, a town about one hour south of Port of Spain in the central part of Trinidad. There, we’d meet a pork aficionado known as the Queen of Pork, who would prepare us a fried pork mountain!
Joining me were my friends Chef Jason Peru, Candice Mohan, and David from Foodie Run TT, who took me to Quan Kep’s Pork Shed. There are also several food trucks in the area that sell various pies!
I watched them fry up some pork in a wok. They also roast pork for 3 hours in Chinese barrel roasters.
Then, she cut up some blood sausage, which she would fry up with onions, culantro, pimiento, and hot peppers. I love blood sausage, and this one doesn’t contain rice, only bread!
I tried a bit of sausage. It was amazing. It was dense and tasty. I’d never had a blood sausage like this. I loved the culantro, chilies, garlic, and bread in it!
Next, she fried three huge pieces of pork in a pot, and stir-fried the blood sausage in a wok. The tradition of blood sausage in Trinidad comes from Britain, who once colonized the islands.
She added chadon beni, onion, pimientos, and hot peppers to make a stir-fry. Meanwhile, the frying pork basically looked like chicharron! It really was a fried pork mountain!
The blood sausage with peppers was exceptional. The crust on the outside was amazing, and I loved the addition of the spices. I loved how smooth it was!
Next, she fried a Venezuelan-style pork empanada. Trinidad and Tobago is a wonderful melting pot of cultures and flavors, and they were on full display in our pork mountain!
We followed that with Geera pork, which cubed is pork made from pork shoulder and contains salt, pepper, and cumin. It was flavorful, tender, and fatty, and wasn’t overly spicy.
Next, she fried up some pork wontons and tossed them into the wok with Grandmother sauce, sesame oil, and the stir-fried veg mix.
The flavor was fantastic. The chilies and brown bean sauce were unreal, and they were so crispy and tender. They contained lots of moist pork, too!
Next on our fried pork mountain was the fried pork belly, which was so juicy and fatty. There was an amazing contrast of textures, from the crispy cracklings to the meat to the gelatinous fat.
Then, Jason got a Trini bun and added pork to it. It was so juicy, it didn’t need sauce! The pork was so good, I couldn’t stop eating it!
The fried pork leg was full of flavor. It was even better than the pork belly! This woman’s food was unreal!
Next was the pork empanada, which was lightly fried. I loved the corn flour exterior and the decent amount of minced pork inside!
Next, we drove down to a town called Debe. Along the busy food strip are shops selling Indian and Trinidadian snacks.
At the end of the strip is Sweety Shoppe Bakery, which sells Indian and Trini sweets like barfi, jalebi, toolum, coconut cake, bennie balls, sugar cake, kurma, and more!
We got a massive jalebi, kurma, bennie balls, sugar cake, and toolum for 36 TTD/$6 USD.
The jalebi was sticky, sugary, decadent, and crispy. The toolum contained molasses and coconut. The sweetness and bitterness of the molasses and the shredded coconut was excellent!
The bennie ball was dense and full of sesame seeds and nutmeg. They’re hard, though! The kurma is a fried dough made with flour, condensed milk, and spices, and coated with sugar syrup.
They reminded me of a butter cookie. I loved the cinnamon. It was a sugar rush, though! Finally, the coconut cake was dense and reminded me almost of a Rice Krispies Treat.
What an incredible pork mountain and Indian sweets experience!
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