Granny | Eme's Kitchen Experience

An interesting thing about me is the fact that I come from a long line of first daughters. This baton handed down from my great-grandmother to my grandmother and my mother before me is perhaps what fuels my desire to birth a girl(s) to carry on this bragging legacy.

Growing up with grandparents, particularly grandmothers made me appreciate the beauty of life and how it slowly ebbs. A once glowing, radiant, and youthful hue gradually becomes dim, wrinkled, and speckled with the dust of experience.

Of the numerous memories with my grannys, my favorite are the ones around food. It's amazing how their food preferences influenced my choices and still feeds into the consideration of what I regard as good food and what is not.

I never gave stockfish so much credibility until the year I observed it to be one of the favourite treats of my maternal grandmother. She would frequently send for this cold air-dried unsalted cod fish and just enjoy chewing on it like some piece of snack.

On one occasion after observing her fondness for it, I requested we make a stockfish sauce and of course, this met no resistance. This grub gave everyone who shared in it so much thrill and fascination as it is not an everyday sort of thing. You don't walk into any restaurant and find stockfish sauce on its menu, Nah! Only a special knowledge and a custom order can give you that sort of pleasure.

Before this time, my paternal grandmother handed me two tricks about preparing and enjoying a stockfish meal. The first is probably common knowledge already - after a quick rinse, allow the stock fish to sit in a  bit of water for a while before using.

The second trick which I employed in addition to the first in preparing this uncommon flavour full stockfish stew is a trade secret and is not available for sharing at least for now.

With the last of my grandmothers now deceased, I thought it best to grieve by cooking in memory of them a meal they would ultimately have loved to eat, critique, and request for more.

I served it with vegetable steamed rice and added some pan-grilled prawns. It's really up to you how you serve it, there are no hard rules with taste.