Pudding and Souse

Pudding and souse is a Saturday dish and Barbadians are firm about that. The pudding is grated sweet potato, seasoned heavily with Bajan seasoning and hot pepper, packed into a casing and steamed until it sets into a dark spiced roll, sliced thick. The souse is pork, traditionally the trotter, ear and head, boiled, cooled and then pickled in lime juice with cucumber, onion, parsley and pepper, served cold. The combination of the warm spiced starch and the cold sharp pork is the point. It comes with pickled breadfruit and a slice of black pudding on the side.

What you actually see

• The pudding - grated sweet potato steamed in a casing and sliced.
• The souse - cold pickled pork sharp with lime and cucumber.
• Saturday only - the day it is made, essentially without exception.
• The rum shops - where it is bought, often to take away in a container.

When to go

Saturdays, from around midday until it runs out, which is usually by mid-afternoon. Certain rum shops are known island-wide for theirs and are worth asking about. It is not made on other days in any serious way.

Honest expectations

The souse uses trotter, ear and other cuts, which is worth knowing before ordering; lean souse can be asked for. It is served cold, which surprises people. The pudding is very heavily peppered. Outside Saturday you will not find it properly made. There is no vegetarian version.

Nearby

Rum shops across the island; ask locally which one is best that week.