While Meneer Wateetons has long left the island, life on Curaçao will never be the same. In houses, sheds and backyards from Bandariba to Bandabou, jars are bubbling, BBQ’s smoking and the local goats and wild pigs are running for their lives.
Meneer Wateetons came to Curaçao to teach foodies, local chefs, culinary students, hunters, fishermen, young entrepreneurs and even a few lawyers, about sausage making, paté making, fermenting, smoking and ‘nose-to-tail’ cooking. For one week my kitchen was taken over by Meneer and his toys. Out came smokers, grinders, stuffers, waterslots, scobys; it’s amazing what Meneer fits into a suitcase.
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- Making fresh sausages
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- Kimchi
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- Paté-en-Croute
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- Nose-to-tail
While teaching about cooking techniques at night, Meneer turned into a vinex-hunter by day. No time to work on his tan. Instead I took Meneer on a few ‘off the beaten track’ field trips over the island. He defied the waves to catch fish (at least he tried), managed to shoot a few wild pigeons, caught sea urchins with his bare hands and explored a local plantation.
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- Expedition Sea-urchin
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- Spot the vinex-hunter
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- Yuca at Hofi Cas Cora
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- Fresh Mouloe
Taking his prey into the kitchen, it turned out that Alablanca pigeons are perfect for smoking and making sausages. Fresh barracuda’s are easily turned into delicious burgers, bonitos make for a great fish sauce and mouloe is the perfect fish to smoke. During the nose-to-tail workshop I even found a whole goat on my kitchen-counter, which was then expertly deboned and eaten from head, hart, ribs, liver to balls.
So good reason to first look around us and see what is available on the island before we buy something from abroad!
Interesting deboning demonstration of a goat by Henk of DeliNova
After 5 nights of workshops, Meneer finally got a chance to relax a little in his luxury resort, before it was time to fly back home. And we? We look back on a very successful week. We learned a lot, laughed a lot and drank a little. Hope to welcome you again next year Meneer!
Many thanks to Chogogo Resort for offering Meneer a very comfortable place to stay, to TUI for bringing Meneer to the island and to DeliNova for your support, the unforgettable hunting experience and the excellent deboning demonstration!
