I had invited Mac for what I thought would be a roast beef dinner, but from the appearance of the ugly hunk of meat coated with bits of bone sitting on my counter I had serious doubts about how it would taste. I had never cooked a roast and had little to serve with it (potatoes and vegetables being almost non-existent back then) but hey, at least I had meat!
I reminded Mac about the dinner invitation, and with that same gleam in his eye he asked if I had bought a rump roast. His smile faltered somewhat when I replied, “Yup!”, and he looked almost scared when I told him to come at 5:00 and to bring a bottle of wine.
I washed the bone fragments off the beef and rubbed it with salt and pepper, figuring that was a good start. I put the meat into the pre-heated oven and checked it often, anxious that it not be over-cooked. It didn’t look very pretty but at least it smelled OK. The beef was very lean, I could see that gravy was not going to be an option at this feast!
Mac arrived, took one look at the roast and started to laugh. Insulted, I asked what was so funny, and he urged me to cut the meat. Grabbing a knife and fork I started to slice the roast, or at least made the attempt. Damned if the knife would make even a small cut, that meat was so tough I doubt a hacksaw would have done the trick!
Still laughing, Mac told me to leave supper to him. Closing the kitchen door so I couldn’t watch, he went about salvaging the meal. I could hear him chopping away, and then a strong smell of something burning wafted through the living room. Fifteen minutes later he emerged from the kitchen and, with a smug expression on his face, told me that supper would be ready “just now”.
That damned beef had to be stewed for almost three hours before Mac was satisfied. We had polished off the wine he ‘d brought and were more than a little hungry! Mac had managed to cut the beef into chunks, added curry, garlic and onions, then seared it in burning brown sugar and oil. He had at one point disappeared, returning with a green papaya. He told me that it would act as a natural meat tenderizer as he sliced and added it to the simmering pot. The papaya also served as a much-needed vegetable!
The end result was delicious. On Bequia it’s referred to as Stew Beef, and Mac and I consumed it with gusto. I forgave him for the rump roast experience, I had a to learn how to cook local food at some point and that had been a tasty lesson! Very tasty indeed.
