FRENCH TRADITIONS AND FESTIVALS
Cooking in Martinique 
Hi everybody ! We are a group of fifth-formers from Martinique, a French island ,the " island of flowers ", located between St Lucia and Dominica and surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the East coast and the Caribbean Sea on the West coast . We would like to speak to you about "Creole cooking ".
Creole cooking is a wonderful illustration of the many natural resources of the Caribbean islands, of their inhabitants’ lifestyle and even of the music of their language.
On Christmas traditional meals , the leg of pork, the "Christmas ham", or the turkey are a must.
Like in France we eat "Galette des Rois" on the first sunday of January and crepes on the second of February.
On Easter sunday we eat the "Crab Matoutou"(crab cooked with rice )
What we commonly have as typical starters will include : cod fritters, avocado, stuffed crabs . The main dish will be served with local vegetables such as breadfruit , yam , sweet potatoes , christophene, plantain .
The dish can be curry chicken, mutton or pork, beef, mutton, or pork stew.
The fish we eat here are : red snappers, Spanish mackerel, sail fish, marlin, dolphin, cooked in "court-bouillon".
To finish , we have a wide variety of desserts with all the fruit we find here : coconuts , pineapples, mangoes, bananas, guavas, passion fruit, golden apple, watermelon, melon.
We chose a few recipes that seem essential to us and we hope they ‘ll be easy to fix in your country.
Put the cod into cold water for a few hours, wash it and grill it then peel it, take the skin and the bones off, mince it and sprinkle with vinegar, oil, garlic, onion, minced shallot and hot pepper, cut very thinly in small quantities according to your taste .
Let the cod macerate in that sauce.
Peel the avocadoes, cut them in slices and cover them with the manioc-flour. Mash this mix with a fork and add the cod to it.
Serve after sprinkling with the lemon juice
If you put too much hot pepper this recipe will be " ferocious " to your palate
Place the cod into cold water for a few hours then make it boil for thirty minutes.
Whisk the flour and add the water little by little, do not make it lumpy.
Let the cod cool, take the skin and the bones off, mince the cod thinly with the onion, the garlic, the chives, thyme, parsley and hot pepper. Season this batter to your taste and add 2 egg yolks, the drop of vinegar and, just before cooking, the pinch of baking soda and the egg whites stiffly-beaten.
Dip the batter in very hot oil for about 5 minutes in small quantities.
N.B : the batter can be prepared in advance but the baking soda and the egg whites will have to be blended just before cooking. The fritters will be better if you dont put too much cod.
Main dish : Curry and coconut
CHICKEN fricassée 
Cook into the butter and oil, the chicken cut into pieces. Springle curry powder and add one tablespoon of flour. Let colour softly and mix softly. Wet with the soup.Chop delicately the onions, add half of them into the mixture and also the " bouquet garni " and the garlic clove.
Add the salt, pepper and let simmer softly for 45 minutes.
When you serve, pull the garlic and the " bouquet garni " and mix the sauce with the fresh cream.
Main dish : CREOLE
" COURT-BOUILLON "
The court-bouillon of France looks like the blaff. What we call court-bouillon in the Caribean is a very special recipe that is cooked with red fish.
Keep the fish marinated for one hour. Cook in oil : the sliced onion, the peeled tomatoes. When all is brown, add a bowl of water and a garlic clove, boil it and dip the fish into it.
Simmer for 10 to 20 minutes (depends on the thickness of the fish).
Serve hot with the juice from the cooking accompanied with the juice of the lemon and hot pepper if you wish.
If you wish a thicker " court-bouillon " you can use fresh tomatoes and tomato concentrate.
The " court-bouillon " is usually served with boiled local vegetables such as : plantain, yam etc.....
Accompagnement : PLANTAIN
DISH COOKED "AU GRATIN"
Peel the plantains,cut them in two parts in lengthways ,then into slices .In the frying pan ,fry them in small quantities with oil.
Prepare the white sauce with the butter and the flour well mixed, the milk, the salt and the pepper. Place in successive layers in a "gratin" dish the plantain and the white sauce ; finish with the white sauce. Powder with the grated Swiss cheese.
Put it in the oven for 10 minutes.
Accompagnement : BREADFRUIT
" MIGAN "
Use 100g rough salt to salt in successive layers the fat parts of the pork.
Sprinkle with a little water, cover and keep in a cool place for 48 hours at least.
On the day of the " migan ", unsalt the pork during a few hours, then cook it in one litre of water with the thyme, parsley, chives, one lemon juice and a mashed garlic clove, during 45 minutes.
Peel the breadfruit, remove the heart, cut it into small pieces and cook it into salted water with a minced onion during about 40 minutes. When the cooking is over, mash the breadfruit.
Serve separately, the salted pork, and the " migan " (breadfruit mashed not too thinly), all of that served with the cod (see the cod mix).
It’s ready !!
Peel bananas and cut them in two lengthwise parts. Put them in the frying-pan, in melted warm butter, make brown each side of them and sprinkle them with sugar and cimannon. When they are caramelized, put them with preheated rum. And then, " flambé " them when serving them.
N.B. Castor sugar can be replaced by 3 teaspoons of sugar cane syrup and peel grated lemon best over the bananas before basteing them .