Fish Tea (Jamaican Fish Soup) / Photo by Scott Suchman for The Washington Post
Sitting around the dinner table with my wife’s family one night, I mentioned to my mother-in-law - born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica - that I wanted to learn to make fish tea, the aromatic fish soup of her home country and a favourite of her father’s. Without skipping a beat, she said what became a popular refrain through all my subsequent recipe tests: "You’ve gotta use the head!”
Plenty of dishes from the Jamaican canon are well-known: jerk, obviously; oxtail; rice and peas. But when I married into a half-Jamaican family and started visiting the island regularly, I learned an important thing: Never sleep on the soups. And while I love Jamaican chicken soup and red pea soup, there’s something about fish tea that I find irresistible.
Where seafood soups and stews, such as bouillabaisse or cioppino, can feel like sticking your head in a rock pool - full of shells, chunks of fish and fishy flavour - sipping fish tea is like staring transfixed as the shadow of a fish glides by in clear blue water. The dish is named for its ample broth and because it’s often served in cups. "The liquid itself remains very thin,” said Riaz Phillips, the London-based British Caribbean food writer and cookbook author. "It’s watery, but it’s water packed with flavor.”
Each trip to Jamaica brings with it my first taste of a new dish in situ - there’s been glorious escovitch at Gloria’s Seafood City in Port Royal; perfect patties from the local bakery in rural Trelawny; callaloo-filled steamed bao at the Chinese Jamaican supermarket in uptown Kingston.
My first serving of fish tea came at the seaside restaurant at the storied Jamaican hotel GoldenEye, in the North Coast town of Oracabessa. Chef Laire Robinson grew up along this stretch of coast with a fisherman father. At home, "we had fish tea weekly or two times a week,” he told me, adding: "You might see these little kitchens on the roadside - little cookshops. Most of them are selling fish tea, especially if it’s a fishing village.”
GoldenEye sources all its fish from the surrounding fishing community, and the most common fish to use is doctorfish, a small, coral-reef-dwelling species. "If it’s not doctorfish,” Robinson said, "it’s got to be snapper.”
Neily Bowlin, a chef from Black River, Jamaica, who manages multiple locations of Mac’s Seafood market in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, likes to use the local catch when he prepares fish tea at home. "I harvest and store as much striped bass as I can,” he said. "But the trick is I only use the heads and collars, because what we’re shooting for is all that collagen. That’s what fish tea is all about.”
The echo of my mother-in-law’s rule! Robinson told me the same: "Sometimes you might get a head from a barracuda or a large snapper - all that gelatin from the head gives the soup a distinct flavour.”
A whole fish, scallions and herbs forms the base of a thin but flavourful broth. (Photo by Scott Suchman for The Washington Post)
Apart from the fish, the hard food or provisions, as various starchy vegetables are known collectively, vary from soup pot to soup pot. "The thing you’ll find about Jamaica is everyone has their own recipe!” said my wife’s aunt Donna Noble, a food stylist, cookbook author and organic farming pioneer who lives in the Blue Mountains. "When I make fish tea, I cheat and make it a bit more robust, so more of a soup,” she said.
Phillips, in London, does the same - the recipe for fish tea in his beautiful 2022 Jamaican cookbook, "West Winds,” calls for pumpkin, yam, green banana (plantain), carrot, potato, corn and more. "That starch is my preference,” he said. "Any time I got it as a kid, I wanted more in my bowl.”
In the first version I had at GoldenEye, which is in a parish known for its bananas, young green plantain left in its skin and cut into coins was the only adornment save for carrot and the oblong flour-and-water dumplings known as spinners, which enhance most Jamaican soups. Bowlin, on Cape Cod, uses carrots, his own homegrown potatoes, and both spinners and round dumplings (to satisfy his kids’ competing preferences). Auntie Donna insists on okra and also champions chocho (chayote squash).
Despite all this variety, certain ingredients are nonnegotiable: The classic trio of scallion, thyme and whole allspice berries (called pimento seeds in Jamaica) perfume the fish stock that serves as the dish’s foundation. Whole Scotch bonnet pepper is often added to gently flavour the simmering soup, and another pepper is finely chopped and sprinkled over each portion just before serving. But not too much. "Only a foolish man cries over his food,” said Robinson, starting to laugh, "so it’s got to be moderate.”
In my own tests, I tried versions that begin with simmering a whole fish, straining it and adding the resulting stock to diced vegetables. I also tried a version that drops the fish, head and all, into the already-simmering pot full of potatoes, carrots, chayote and green plantain (my chosen vegetables).
In truth, even with the risk of bones, scales and other bits to negotiate (even after the fish is removed and the flaky flesh reintroduced), the latter version tasted best and turned into a stunning aspic in the fridge overnight, bursting with flavour the next day. "A real, authentic fish tea as Jamaicans make it - there’s no straining involved. We just go for it,” Bowlin told me, and I now understand what he meant.
The strained version - what I based this recipe on - doesn’t lack in flavour but is more nuanced and easier to eat. I also tried making the soup with dainty fillets of local whitefish simmered in store-bought fish stock that’s been doctored with thyme and allspice. It wasn’t bad, but I can’t endorse it - only a foolish man goes against his mother-in-law. You’ve gotta use the head.
Fish Tea (Jamaican Fish Soup)
Servings: 4 (makes about 7 cups)
Active time: 20 mins; Total time: 1 hour 15 mins
Fish tea, the aromatic fish soup of Jamaica, gets its name from a comparatively thin broth that buzzes with the perfume of allspice, thyme, scallion and Scotch bonnet pepper. From there, the dish is almost infinitely customisable - in addition to (or instead of) the ingredients listed here, the soup can include okra, yam, West Indian pumpkin, spinners (oblong flour-and-water dumplings) and more. But Scotch bonnet is key - if you can handle it, a bit of very finely chopped hot pepper added to each bowl lends an irresistible, fruit-forward spice that ties everything together.
Make ahead: The soup is delicious the day it is made, but its flavours develop even more the next day.
Storage: Refrigerate for up to 2 days.
Where to buy: Chayote can be found at Latin and international markets, and well-stocked supermarkets.
INGREDIENTS
2 bunches scallions (about 14 scallions)
6 cups water
20 sprigs fresh thyme (from 1 small bunch), divided
One (2-inch) piece unpeeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons whole allspice
1 gutted, scaled and cleaned whole red snapper (1 pound)
Fine salt
1 medium russet potato (10 ounces), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 small chayote squash, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 green plantain, peeled and sliced 1/2-inch thick
2 Scotch bonnet peppers, divided
DIRECTIONS
Trim 4 of the scallions and place them in a wide shallow pot or skillet with tall sides; chop the remaining scallions and set aside. To the pot, add the water, 10 sprigs of the thyme, the ginger and 1/2 teaspoon of the allspice. Set over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
Season the fish generously with salt, then add to the pot. Gently poach, adjusting the heat as needed to maintain a simmer, until the fish flakes easily and infuses the stock, about 20 minutes.
About 10 minutes into the fish poaching, in a large, deep pot combine the potato, carrot, squash and plantain, along with the remaining thyme sprigs, allspice, 1 of the Scotch bonnet peppers (left whole) and half of the chopped scallions.
When the fish is done poaching, use a thin, metal spatula to transfer it to a large plate. Set a fine-mesh strainer over the pot with the vegetables and pour the broth through it. Season to taste with salt and bring the liquid to a boil.
Reduce the heat so the broth is at a gentle simmer and cook uncovered, until the vegetables are tender and the flavors are well incorporated, about 30 minutes.
While the soup cooks, carefully separate the fish from the bones and return it to the pot with the broth and vegetables. (Discard or compost the bones and the whole Scotch bonnet pepper.) Taste, and season the broth with more salt as desired.
Finely mince the remaining Scotch bonnet - use kitchen gloves or a fork to avoid touching the pepper directly. Taste a tiny piece to judge the heat level before adding to the soup.
When ready to serve, discard the thyme sprigs and as many of the allspice berries as you can (they often gather at the surface around the sides of the pot). Ladle into bowls, garnish with the remaining chopped scallions and minced Scotch bonnet, and serve hot.
Substitutions: Instead of red snapper >> try using sea bass. Can’t find Scotch bonnet peppers >> use habanero peppers. Chayote >> try chopped okra or pumpkin.
Nutritional Facts per serving | Calories: 317; Fat: 2 g; Saturated Fat: 1 g; Carbohydrates: 48 g; Sodium: 170 mg; Cholesterol: 42 mg; Protein: 28 g; Fiber: 6 g; Sugar: 4 g
This analysis is an estimate based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian’s or nutritionist’s advice. From food writer Luke Pyenson.
