Cameroon - January 14th 2006

It's almost funny how many people have asked me if I was cooking some kind of diet food when I first mentioned that I was planning a Cameroonian dinner... I think they thought it was some kind of spin off from Atkins or something as weird. Of course one should be shocked at the thought that there are people who do not know that Cameroon is in fact an African nation but, hey, I've never heard of Vanuatu or Saint Kitts and Nevis before I actually reached S or V in my first round of alphabetical cooking so... I won't judge those who do not know where Cameroon is.
Just in case you do want to know, Cameroon is in West Central Africa, bordering Nigeria, Chad and Gabon and another few countries. It measures approx. 475K sq feet (slighlty larger than California) and has a population of just over 16 million people.

Anyway, as the "C" country of my second round of alphabetical cooking, Cameroon presented quite a few challenges. The web has very few available Cameroonian recipes and the cooking book a friend (Jeff) gave me had a couple... shame that the book arrived a day after the dinner.

All this said, the dinner was a great success, despite initial doubts voiced by Eric and additional doubts I had while cooking it (it just is really hard to always trust the recipes... and I had a total of 6 people to feed - including myself - and Eric voiced concerns that 2 chickens might not be enough... yeah right, read on...).
I think that 6 is such a perfect number for a dinner party: not too few - so no risk of running out of conversational topics - not too many - so no risk of spending all the time in the kitchen refilling plates or getting additional bottles of wine. And what a fun group they were too: at some point, Craig was laughing so hard I was afraid he might get a heart attack. Kako was very taken with my new kitty (I've called her Molly for a couple of days but I am not convinced... what does anyone think of Loredana? I like that, Eric doesn't know how to say it, go figure!) and she was wearing some great looking golden boots. Robert (or Cousin Bob as he's known) was his usual charming and great looking and Leonard brought a great wine (never knew they had Barbera in California). We all drank far too much wine as usual but that just added to the fun of the evening.

After several drafts, I finalized the menu a couple of days before the dinner and on Friday 13th (no superstitions here), Eric and I headed to the Farmers Market in Dekalb to find the ingredients. As usual, I found pretty much everything, except for palm oil which I substituted it with peanut oil (figuring that they are both pretty bad for you anyway).

Cameroonian food is very rich and flavorful and resemble a little US southern cuisine. It's the second time that I cook from an African country and find resemblances with southern cuisine. I suppose it's in part due to the slaves that were forced to settle here a few centuries ago from Africa. I had big troubles finding a dessert recipe and ended up asking my friend Kristiane in London (who was born in Cameroon): she sent a couple of recipes but with a note saying she never heard of them as they normally eat fresh food after a meal in Cameroon. So I improvised with a mango mousse which wasn't as good as the rest of the meal as I over whipped the cream and turned it into butter. I think the main course had a billion calories or close enough (one lb and a half of peanut butter!). I don't know if it was the great amount of wine or what but everyone asked for seconds of the main course and I even gave a doggy bag to take home to Kako and Craig. And there is still enough left in the refrigerator to feed Eric and I for a week! And Eric was worried it wouldn't have been enough...

Anyway, I am enclosing an extract of the menu... I didn't take any pictures of the food unfortunately so you'll have to use your imagination. I had some great scores though!


AppetizerSese Plantains - average score 8.5

Main Courses
Folon à la Georges - average score 8.5
Served with steamed rice

DessertMango Slice Mousse - average score 6.5

Beverages
McManis Family Vineyards (and many others...)Cabernet Sauvignon
California 2004

Next time... Djibouti (I am sure not many people here have heard of this country...)

Rossana