Chef Barrie Gunning, owner of ‘The Black Urchin’, shares his personal Bajan fishcake recipe with Find Yello Barbados.

Barrie says: “One of the first things that made me popular at Street Feast London was my Bajan fish cakes. It helped me become one of the headliners for this trendy gourmet night market in Central London where vendors served 3,000 foodies every weekend.

“What I find great about the food scene developing worldwide is that chefs and cooks are taking every day classic dishes and making them a whole lot better by enhancing the taste, texture, and eating experience. An example is something like a simple ham and cheese sandwich. A street food vendor would replace sliced bread with sourdough bread, sliced cheese with gourmet cheese, sliced ham with some nice Spanish or Italian ham, add homemade pickles and a good mustard. Put that together, your eyes light up, and every bite is pure eating pleasure. 

“That is what is happening worldwide with street food, snacks, drinks, appetisers, mains, desserts, you name it. It makes eating, and eating out, a much greater experience. If I prepare any food I am going to spoil the hell out of that dish with the best ingredients.

“So, this is my Bajan fishcake recipe. When I did my Bajan fishcakes in London, I used fresh cod coming in on the day boats. You can swap saltfish for any fish you want – snapper, crab meat, shrimp, grouper or conch.”

Chef Barrie Gunning’s Bajan Fishcakes

Ingredients:

• One bag of Shirley’s mixed herbs (available at all major local supermarkets).
• A small bunch of chives.
• Three green scotch bonnet peppers (use to heat preference).
• 1.5 cups of self-raising flour.
• Sea salt to taste.
• One tablespoon of baking powder.
• 1lb of skinless and boneless saltfish (pre-soaked to soften and remove some salt). 
• Frying oil.

Cooking instructions:

• Finely chop all your herbs (or give them a quick blitz in a blender).
• Flake and/or chop the saltfish (you can also give this a quick go in the blender).
• Thoroughly mix your herbs and salt fish together in a mixing bowl.
• Add your salt.
• Add the baking powder.
• Add the flour and stir the mixture well.
• Add water, enough to hold the mixture together rather than a runny batter, you want a thick and gooey batter.
• Have a preheated pan of hot oil ready (you can shallow or deep fry).
• Spoon out the mixture with an ice-cream scoop and drop in the frying pan.
• Turn fishcakes regularly and cook until a nice light golden brown.
• Serve with a dipping sauce of your choice.

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