Baking in Benin

Many things are different here in Benin, mostly because it's a third world country; travel, daily experiences, people, non-paved roads--you know, the nuances. It should be no suprise then that food is vastly different. The Beninese have all the same ingredients we do (minus a few vegetables) but they crazily different things with them. For example, pate (pronounced pot) a staple of the Beninese diet. It's base is corn. The Beninese grind corn into a powder, add water, then reduce it to a pasty white substance that looks like paper mache. L'igname pile (prounounced Yam Pee-lay). Mashed yams with added water to make a sticky pasty substance like pate but tastes better. Both of these things are time consuming to make and offer no nutritional value.

So, cooking has become a sort of adventure (like traveling). I get to create all different kinds of sauces for pasta or rice and baking has become an endevour. I like baking. In the States, I baked all the time--mostly for Rob--because I thought it was fun. And, believe it or not, decent baking can be done in the third world. I live in the mountains, don't have a working stove, and can't use any fresh butter--the odds are against any aspiring baker. But like I said, it can be done.

All this to say, I made a pound cake in my Dutch oven and it's bomb (extremely good). A Dutch oven here is the large pot with two cans in the bottom you see. You place the dish on the cans, cover and let it cook. I forgot to take a "this is the finished product picture," but it came out perfect; golden brown, moist, sweet, and soo good. I put Hershey's special dark chocolate chips in the batter, they all sank to the bottom and created a layer of chocolate--oh boy.

At thanksgiving I managed to make 2 pumpkin pies, apple tart, and a pumpkin custard that everyone loved. I'm excited for Christmas. At some point I can post recipes but not now, this blog is already too long :)

Bon appetit!