Seasoning your meat

In the Caribbean we don’t cook without seasoning our meat and letting it marinate for hours, if not days. When I was a kid, after school my job when I got home from school was to season the meat for my mom for tomorrow’s lunch.

We have a traditional Green seasoning that includes all green herbs and seasoning pepper and brown onion.

The marinate is always basic, and the rest of the flavor is added during the cooking process. Whether it be curry or Barbeque or just a roast or a soup / stew.

Caribbean cooking requires planning, but the outcome is alway worth it.

Today I seasoned / marinated Chicken wings for tomorrow’s baked chicken wing dinner.

The Elements

• The Meat
• Herbs
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Seasoning peppers (baby capsicum)
• Brown onion
• Green onions
• garlic
• Lemon juice
• Lime juice
• oil
• Paprika

Preparing your meat – Chicken Wings

I get the whole chicken wings, buying the cut wings is more expenssive. if you get the pre-cut wings that don’t include the wing tips you can skip this part. This is where I put the love into my food.

I cut the wings at it’s joint into 3 peices and I save the wing tips to freeze to make chicken broth for soup.

I scrap the skin of the wings with a knife to remove left over chicken feathers and grim.

Thoroughly wash your meat with fresh clean cool water.

The Seasonings – Chop / Dice and set aside

• Dice 1/2 a brown onion
• dice 1 Red baby capsicum (seasoning pepper)
• dice 3 cloves of garlic
• chop parsley
• Chop Green onions ( I usually have this prepped in advance and ready to use)
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• Paprika

In a container with a set lid, place your washed chicken wings. Cover with 1 tbsp of oil, salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with 2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp lime juice. Add your prepped seasonings. Mix everything together and make sure every chicken wing bit is covered in the seasoning. Sprinkle with Paprika and mix in.

Once everything is thoroughly mixed and combined, cover with lid. Wash the outside of the container just in case there’s chicken juice on it. Raw chicken is not safe and can carry various illnesses. Place your seasoned wings in the fridge to marinate ready for tomorrow’s meal. This can apply to any cut of chicken.

place your wing tips in a freezer bag, and in the freezer to add to your broth for your weekend’s soup.

In the Caribbean we do this every night or early in the morning for lunch.