Shark, Really?

Some foods or dishes are associated with a particular place or activity. A perfect example of this is Bake and Shark at Maracas Beach in Trinidad. Maracas Beach is a beautiful beach on the north shore of Trinidad. The most important feature of Maracas Beach is the many Bake and Shark huts. Bake and Shark is a Trinidadian dish consists of a piece of deep fried shark served in deep fried bread called ‘bake’. The shark is typically marinated in a combination of herbs, garlic and lime juice. The ‘bake’ is doughy bread similar to Native American fry bread which is found the Southwest such as Arizona and New Mexico.

The key to this simple sandwich is the variety of condiments and toppings it can be dressed with. Each hut has a table of toppings such as tamarind chutney, chadon bene (cilantro) chutney, hot pepper sauce, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, fresh mango (sour mango) chutney, mayonnaise, mustard sauce and mango kutchela (a mango pickle). My favorites are the chadon bene sauce and garlic sauce. No trip to Maracas Beach is complete without a stop for Bake and Shark dressed to perfection!