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Martinique
Lambi tenderised with a mallet, chatrou simmered with herbs and green chilli: two molluscs of the Caribbean Sea, one and the same Creole pot.
Traditional dish from Martinique.
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Lambi is a mollusc that lives in the sea, chatrou an octopus: this is how a directory of restaurants and inns presents the two ingredients of this fricassée, to be numbered among the seafood specialities of Martinique. The Comité martiniquais du tourisme confirms that chatrou is 'a seafood product better known as octopus'. Its culinary brochure places lambi among the 'tasty treasures of the sea' born of the meeting of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, alongside titiris, clams, brigots and red snapper.
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Often featured on restaurant menus, fricassée de chatrou is described by the Comité martiniquais du tourisme as 'a mysterious name, an unmissable speciality'. The Lonely Planet guide notes that fricassées of chatrou (octopus) and lambi (large shellfish) are 'common' among the island's seafood, and notes them on the menus of restaurants in Anse Mitan as well as along the seafront in Tartane.
In Les Trois-Ilets, in the Xavier district, cook Sylviane Mathée — 'Yayane' to everyone — serves local dishes in her snack bar 'just like mum's or granny's'. She retains a fondness for fricassée de lambi, a recipe handed down from her grandmother.
Fishing for lambi is banned from 1 January to 30 June each year, points out the Direction de la Mer de la Martinique, whose departments patrol the coastline and regularly inspect fishing catches.
Appearance
Pieces of lambi, neither too small nor too large, or chatrou cut into small pieces, cooked in a broth with herbs of the local terroir.
Aroma
Towards the end of cooking, the lambi is 'deliciously fragrant'; the pot has brought together oignons pays, garlic, parsley, gros thym and chilli.
Taste
Spiced with green chilli and, for the chatrou, a blend of spices and aromatics.
Texture
Lambi that is 'as tender as can be' when beaten with a mallet and then simmered; if salted or dressed with lemon too early, it becomes 'as tough as rubber'.
the mollusc, beaten with a mallet, simmered with oignons pays, garlic, chilli, parsley and gros thym.
octopus cooked with a blend of spices and aromatics.
the fricassée as presented by a dining directory, with chatrou cut into small pieces and cooked in a broth with fine herbs and green chilli.
the lambi is then covered with water and left to simmer.
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Fricassée de chatrou is generally served with rice and red kidney beans. Locals typically eat it with rice or plantain. In Tartane, a snack bar offers it as part of a starter-main-dessert menu, following acras.
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