Griot (Griyo)

As tradition built it

Griot (Griyo)

Marinate 4 to 6 hours, preferably overnight; simmer 15 to 25 minutes; then fry until deep golden-brown.

Ingredients

• 1.5kg pork shoulder, cut into 3 to 5cm cubes
• 5 tbsp epis
• 1 to 2 limes, or 1 sour orange juice of 1 to 2 limes and/or a sour orange
• 1 to 2 tbsp white or wine vinegar
• 1 bouillon cube
• to taste whole cloves, thyme, parsley, salt, pepper, chopped Scotch bonnet, to taste

Method

1. Rub the pork cubes with citrus juice and rinse, a cleaning step taken as seriously as the seasoning itself.
2. Marinate the meat in the epis, remaining citrus, vinegar, bouillon cube and aromatics for a minimum of 4 to 6 hours, preferably overnight.
3. Simmer the meat gently in its own marinade, 15 to 25 minutes, until tender but not falling apart, then remove, reserving the reduced liquid.
4. Deep- or shallow-fry the meat in hot oil until deep golden-brown and crisp at the edges.
5. Serve with pikliz, bannann peze and rice, the reduced marinade liquid often reused as the base of sòs ti-malis, a hot accompanying sauce.

What a modern chef changes

Sous Vide and Live-Fire Finish

Rungs 1, 2 and 4

Method

1. Marinate in a properly emulsified epis batch as in Rung 1, resting the full overnight period the tradition already asks for.
2. Cook the marinated pork sous vide rather than simmering it, at a temperature and time chosen for genuinely fall-apart tenderness, which removes the risk of an uneven stovetop simmer either undercooking the centre of a large cube or toughening the outside. Rung 2.
3. Finish over live coals on a Big Green Egg rather than in a pan of oil, for a real smoke character the traditional fry does not carry, understanding this as a continuation of boukannen's live-fire lineage rather than an import. Rung 4.