From Beautiful Belize: Chef Jennie Staines

With the holidays well behind us and more cold months ahead, looking for an escape route through the kitchen may be your best option. If that route takes you all the way to Belize then so much the better. During a recent trip to New York City, chef Jennie Staines of San Pedro’s Elvi’s Kitchen showed a group of food writers the way in a multi-course cooking demonstration of authentic Belizean cooking – a multi-ethnic fusion marrying the complexity of Mayan cuisine with the brightness of Caribbean flavors that included stone crab ceviche, Mayan fish, coconut curry, and caramel flan. Chef Jennie sat down with The Latin Kitchen to talk about her favorite Belizean recipes and what it takes to run a restaurant with family.

What is your earliest memory of being in the kitchen?

My father was a fisherman and my mother sold tamales as part of our family’s living. When I was 10, I remember helping my mother who prepared all the things that were needed for the tamales, then we’d wrap them, and cook them on the fire.

Where did you study?

When I was growing up in San Pedro, I didn’t know anything about culinary schools. In high school, they offered vocational training for the tourist industry that was starting. I went to them and asked how I could learn more. I wanted to study in the United States but had difficulty securing a visa, so I taught myself from cookbooks and magazines. Eventually, I was given a scholarship to work at Charley’s Crab in Florida through a USAID program. By staying from the time they opened to when they closed, I learned the basics about managing a professional kitchen and operating equipment. To continue my education, I worked at establishments throughout Mexico.

When did your family open Elvi’s Kitchen?

In 1974, my mother [Doña Elvia] opened a small burger stand called Elvi’s Burger Isle that was inspired by family from the US who made burgers for us when they visited the island. There was also a British army base nearby so my father sold fish and chips. When I joined her in the restaurant [in 1986], we expanded the menu to serve traditional Belizean food, mostly concentrating on seafood.

Next, learning about Belizean ingredients and flavors…

What are the key Belizean ingredients and flavors?

Cumin, oregano, peppercorn, allspice, clove, and recado [annato-based paste] are essential. You also see the Spanish influence in our use of olive oil and saffron. Sour oranges, coconuts, cassava, and plantains are everywhere. All of our plantains are grown locally and the leaves are used for making tamales, cooking fish, and pibil. My Mayan fish comes from cochinito pibil, a traditional way to cook the pig underground with recado. I made it into a smaller portion and used seafood in the version we serve at the restaurant. In Mexico, I met many chefs who were interested in Mayan traditions and we shared ideas which many of us added to our menus.

What’s your signature dish?

Our main dish in Belize is rice and beans done with red beans, coconut, and thyme and served with stewed chicken, and a potato salad that is sweet, tangy, and different from any other I’ve tried. It’s made with potatoes, eggs, sweet peas, corn, sweet chiles, mayonnaise, mustard, evaporated milk, and salad cream. The salad cream was adopted from the British and it’s very hard to find. Our potato salad is popular with tourists but locals buy it as well.

What is it like to work with your family and what have you learned alongside your mother in the kitchen?

I have enjoyed it. My mother still works from her home kitchen above the restaurant and she’ll be 82 this month. She makes desserts, including the coquitos (coconut candies) for the Mayan Buffet we offer on Fridays that includes traditional Mayan and Mestizo foods. Mom is a hell of a good cook. What I’ve learned from her is that cooking is an art. She has respect for the process and believes that you need to take the time to do it well even if it’s a simple pot of rice. You have to learn to control your own heat the same way you control the stove.