COPPERFried jackfish recipe
Small whole jacks washed in lime, rubbed with green seasoning and pan-fried, served with fire-roasted breadfruit as Saint Vincent's national dish.
Ingredients
- 8 whole jackfish
- 1 breadfruit
- 3 limes
- 1 bunch chive
- 1 bunch thyme
- 4 clove garlic
- 1 onion
- 150 g flour
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 400 ml oil
How to make Fried jackfish
- Use 8 small whole jacks, scaled and gutted, not fillets. The fish is fried on the bone and picked apart at the table.
- Wash the fish in water with the juice of 2 limes, leave 15 minutes, then rinse and pat completely dry. Vincentians never skip this washing step.
- Mince or pound a quarter cup of chive, thyme, garlic and onion with salt into a green seasoning and rub it into the slashes and the belly. Rest 30 minutes.
- Roast a whole breadfruit directly over an open fire or a gas flame, turning it, for 45 to 60 minutes until the skin is charred black and a skewer slides through. Then peel it and cut out the core.
- Dredge the fish in flour seasoned with black pepper, shaking off the excess. Flour only, no cornmeal.
- Fry in 2 cm of hot oil, 4 to 5 minutes per side, until the skin is crisp and brown.
- Drain on paper and serve with thick wedges of the hot roasted breadfruit and more lime.
What is Fried jackfish?
Fried jackfish is a traditional dish from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, cooked in a pan, and takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes from start to finish. It is built around flour. The recipe below uses 11 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Fried jackfish take?
At 105 minutes it is quicker than 57% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. Copper's atlas has 29 dishes built on flour. The method runs to 7 steps, the longest being 60 minutes.
Any tips for making Fried jackfish?
Wash the whole jacks in lime water, then rinse and pat them completely dry before seasoning and dredging in flour only, no cornmeal.
How Fried jackfish compares
Hard to find elsewhere: whole jackfish (1), chive (1) and breadfruit (3).
Cooked with the same thing elsewhere
Other traditional dishes built on breadfruit, from other countries.
- Oil down 🇬🇩 Grenada
- Breadfruit pudding 🇲🇭 Marshall Islands
- Calulu 🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe
Copper documents Saint Vincent and the Grenadines alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.