We made this yesterday and while its not as traditional as the escabeche we get in Belize, its pretty darn tasty and healthy and EASY.

3-4 pound whole chicken, or parts, preferably a free-range, organically raised

5 large carrots

2 large yellow or white onions

1 cup apple cider vinegar (white will also work)

3/4 cup soy sauce or tamari

black pepper - lots of it

3 fresh whole jalapeno peppers
3 fresh whole habanero peppers

4-5 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1-2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 head of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

Put two of the bay leaves inside the chicken and rub black pepper all over the outside of the chicken.

Slice the onions 1/2" into rings. Put in bottom of crockpot. Grate the carrots and put on top of the onions. Put the whole chicken on top of the vegetables. Mix the vinegar, soy sauce, thyme, oregano and garlic together and pour over chicken. Drop in the other two bay leaves and the chili peppers (whole) and cover. Cook on high 4 hours.

You can also add shredded cabbage and corn on the cob, whatever you want. Serve with corn tortillas or over brown rice.

Escabeche is so easy to make. Adding the veggies as you suggested makes it so much more delicious and healthy (and less boring) A great soup when it's cold outside. I have never used soy sauce or thyme in mine. Will try it sometime.

I would really appreciate someone posting a classic escabeche recipe.My new favorite salad is cabbage, radish, cilantro, scallion, roasted habenero and lime lime lime. Thanks

There is an excellent traditional Maya escabeche recipe in Joan Fry's book, How to Cook a Tapir. Unfortunately, I've lent my review copy to someone but a little bird told me that the books have arrived on the island today and you can reserve a copy at the bookshop (Pages at Vilma Linda). They will officially go on sale on the 19th during the launch.

But until then here is a recipe from the Toucan Cook Belize

1 chicken 3lb
3-4 onion
1 pt vinegar or a little less
1/2 tsp thyme
6-8 spice seeds (not specified)
8-10 cups of water
oregano leaves
salt and pepper to taste
2 plugs garlic
2-4 jalapeno peppers whole

Cut chicken into serving pieces and fry until evenly brown, then remove from pan or boil the whole chicken in the 8-10 cups of water with 1/2 tsp salt. Remove to oven and bake until brown.
Then remove meat from bones. save stock for step 3. Cut onions into thin slices and soak in vinegar and 1/2 cup water. Pour water into large saucepan and add the seasonings and whole peppers and allow it to boil for 10 minutes. Add the chicken and allow to boil slowly until tender. Add all the onions and vinegar to taste. Simmer for 5 minutes. Serve hot with corn tortillas.

That looks very complicated but I will try. I got a packet of escabeche powder in Belize City. I wonder what that does? Thanks

Will y'all please STOP? You are making me so hungry!

--Lan Sluder

I LOVE escabeche! The more sour the better.

Do you have a good recipe that is simpler than Colly"s? I love it as well and so far Elvi's and El Fogon are tied

I don't fry the chicken first or soak the veggies in vinegar. I basically slice the onions or chunk them and I slice the carrots instead of shredding them, then dump it all in a pot and set the stove on high. The "spice seed" is juniper berries from pickling spice. I think they fry the chicken first because maybe it holds together better, but for me it just adds a step and extra calories.

Would love to find out where we can buy free range chicken? There seems to be a common misconception that all the chicken available is free range. Locals say that is not true, that there are a lot of farms on the mainland now and these chicken are fed hormones to get them to the market quickly.

Surendra,

There are some individuals and restaurants who are able to source free range chickens through private suppliers. The problem seems to be that there just isn't a great enough market for free range chickens for anyone to produce them commercially. That said, there are a number of small farms on the mainland that produce and sell their free range chickens locally, in their own area. Watch out though. They get big! The last ones we got were over 6lbs each. As far as I'm aware almost all the chicken feed contains antibiotics, but no hormones are used in chickens in Belize as it is unnecessary because of the breed of chicken they use to produce meat. Using hormones would be both expensive and pointless.

This comes from someone who has a farm in Belize, who posted on this issue on another forum:

"BUT... contrary to local myth, there are no hormones used in the Mennonite chickens:

http://www.qualitypoultryproducts.com/HealthandSafety.aspx

here's how the rumour about hormones in chickens may have gotten started... people bought broiler chicks from the Mennonite hatchery, and tried to raise them like local chickens.

because local folks surely know how to raise chickens, they've done it all their lives!

but... local chickens in Belize are hardy, adapted to the climate and local diseases, and they are good foragers, they're up at dawn to free-range ("The early bird catches the worm")

since local chickens are hatched by a mother hen, they're kept warm under her body, and the mother teaches her babies how to scratch in the dirt to supplement the regular "mash" feed bought at the store, which is 19% to 21% protein.

however, the BROILER chickens need special medicated feed (for coccidosis) and vitamins to attain their huge size in just a few weeks... and scratching in the dirt just ain't gonna cut it!

if broiler chicks purchased at the Spanish Lookout hatchery are raised the same way as local chickens, they'll probably turn out SCRAWNY, with raggedy feathers, bald patches, and a pale sickly appearance.

that's because without a mother to protect them, the baby chicks waste ENERGY struggling to stay warm!

that energy doesn't go into growing the chicken, instead, the feed calories are burned up just to stay alive.

in addition, broiler chickens are specially bred to be sparsely feathered (makes plucking easier), so they don't have much cover to keep them warm.

here's the facts, the Mennonites have a VERY small profit margin, because the price of chicken at the store is regulated by the government... so, they simply can't AFFORD the time, effort and expense to give each one of their chickens daily injections of hormones!

hormones can't be given to chickens in their feed, because they're proteins, and would be digested and excreted instead of being utilized for growth.

anyway, hormones aren't NEEDED, because those white broiler chickens, when properly raised, just NATURALLY grow large.

Cornish Cross white broiler chicks should be kept sheltered from the elements, maybe even in a box indoors, with warming lights for at least the first few weeks.

broilers need to be fed a 23% protein starter ration for the first four weeks and a 20% protein grower ration the remainder of the growing period, w6 to 8 weeks until they're full grown.

if they're fed regular mash, they don't grow so fast, and then rumors start that the Mennonites MUST be using something like hormones to make them grow, but it's not true."

Thanks so much for your insight. We feel better about it. We would still like to get some free range chicken from the mainland if we get a chance.

I see how rumors get spread!

Surendra