Shelly-Ann Thompson, Freelance Writer
When Lorraine Clunie serves up her curried goat dish, people come back for more. The story is the same for her awesome roast pork, Blue Draws and other dishes. Here, Clunie, who confesses to loving her own cooking, shows off her macaroni salad to Food. - PHOTOS BY RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
THOSE WHO have eaten her curried goat often ask for more.
The great taste, explained Lorraine Clunie, comes from seasoning the meat with blended natural herbs a week before cooking.
Curried goat is but one of the dishes that keep people coming back to Clunie's kitchen. Her Blue Draws (Dukunu) and roast pork are also favourites.
Clunie, who would only confess to being fortysomething, is the manager of Elegant Weddings, a one-stop wedding centre in Kingston. She got her formal training in food at the University of Technology (UTech) where she completed a certificate in industrial management. In addition to other food courses such as food service management at the Avier Polytechnic Institute of Ontario, Toronto, Canada, she attends food shows overseas "to keep up with the trends".
Her culinary education started, however, with her grandmother, Lucy Curry-Panton.
"That's who I got my base from."
She also praised her Home Economics teacher, Lyndale Ranglin-Dyer of Manchioneal Primary School in Portland for honing her baking skills.
These days she caters for weddings, engagement parties, and other functions such as Christmas, birthday and cocktail parties, and banquets.
Clunie added that she constantly reinvents herself by hosting quarterly food events such as the Old Time Jamaican Sinting that was held on Mother's Day. She also operates cooking courses for young brides and is finalising plans for a course on old-time Jamaican food with an emphasis on style.
ON THE MENU
For her interview with Food, Clunie prepared:
Roast pork garnished with carrot, onion and parsley
Oxtail and broad beans
Baked chicken garnished with carrot, cucumber and garden eggs
Stew peas with pigs tail
Stew peas with chicken foot
Seasoned and white rice
Tossed salad with tomato, cucumber, carrot and lime dressing
Macaroni salad with tomato, green peppers, cucumber and mixed vegetables
Carrot and beetroot juice
Sorrel drink
Ginger beer
THE IMMACULATE COOK
"The best thing to do is cook in white. When you are done and you are looking immaculate as I am looking you have achieved everything," said Clunie.
She noted that her grandmother drove home the importance of cleanliness when cooking. "I'm always cooking in white. It's important that you do. If you cannot cook and maintain a clean look you cannot keep a kitchen clean."
HER HUSBAND SAYS...
Owen Clunie, said her food, along with some of her other qualities drew him to her.
Her pork is "quite exceptional," It's well marinated and properly seasoned.
"I wonder if there is another person who can get a meal completed as quickly as her, as she completes a meal speedily," said Clunie who has a 20-year-old son with Lorraine Clunie.
FIRST FOOD MEMORY: Dumplings (boiled) and ackee and saltfish with corned pork and lemonade. I lived in Manchioneal, I could not have been more than four, and it was raining. My mother cooked, and you know when it rains you get hungry faster. I remember eating about three or four dumplings and it was a wonder that I could eat so much at that time.
FOOD YOU COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT: Rice and peas. It's more out of habit than anything else. On a Sunday it's a must with whatever else.
FOOD YOU ENJOY: I still love dumpling. Now I use whole-wheat flour, being health conscious. But there is nothing like a good flour dumpling, especially with corned pork or ackee and saltfish.
FOOD YOU DISLIKE: I don't dislike any food but I get an allergic reaction when I eat corn. It's just nowadays I can tolerate cornflakes somewhat.
FRIDGE/CUPBOARD CONFESSION: Arrowroot. It's a tuber that grows almost like ginger. It makes a wonderful porridge on its own, but when mixed with raw peanuts and spiced with coconut milk, nutmeg and vanilla it makes a wicked porridge.
COOKING TIPS FROM LORRAINE CLUNIE
Seasoning tip: Never put tomato on meat when seasoning. This can cause the meat to sour. Put tomato on meat when cooking.
Cooking pork: Ice is a natural meat tenderiser. Put a chunk of ice in the pot for pork (or goat) when cooking and the oil will form around the ice in the pot. After this, remove the ice and this way you get rid of excess oil.
Cooking rice and peas: The key when cooking rice and peas is to make sure that the coconut milk and peas and garlic are cooked at the same time. This way too it doesn't hurt your belly.
Plus, pimento seeds and ginger add flavour to the rice and peas and help with the digestive process.
