What’s on the Menu To Go with That Fried Fish? Hot Cross Buns
It’s that time again when hot cross buns and fried fish are the order of the day, well at least on the dinner menu. And while the making of cross buns is a decades-old tradition in Belize, it is still a skill that perhaps younger folks may need some coaching on how to get the perfect cross bun for Good Friday. So, like we do each year, we went out to get an expert’s guidance on how to come up with the ideal recipe. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.
Natalie Robinson
Natalie Robinson, Assistant Baker, Map Street Marketplace
“You going to mix all your dry ingredients together. So you’re going to mix until everything mix together.”
Marion Ali, Reporting
The making of hot cross bun in time for Good Friday is a treasured Belizean tradition that is perhaps over a hundred years old. And each year on this day, whoever does not travel with the family to spend the four-day holiday weekend away from home, uses the time to make their cross buns, synonymous with Christianity’s preaching of Jesus dying on a cross for our salvation.
Natalie Robinson
“The cross signifies Jesus, and you know, things like that, so people say that they put the cross on it because it’s a symbol because he died on the cross for us.”
But whether the reason for the cross is a religious gesture, hot cross buns seem to be a favorite among everyone at this time. So having the perfect recipe is key to enjoying a tasty bun. Natalie Robinson, the Assistant Baker at Mapp Street Marketplace, walked us through that process today.
Natalie Robinson
“First of all, you gather your dry ingredients, which consist your flour, your nut meg, your cinnamon powder, your essence, your coconut powder, and that’s your condiments. And after that, you mix everything together. When you’re finished mixing everything together, you go through the process of cutting them into the size that you want. But we here at the commissary, what we do, everything we do, we standardize everything we do. So in order to make the process more easier and everybody get that equal share and equal size of everything, what we do, we weigh off every ounces to a certain and after that we put it to let it raise for about 30 to five, five minutes, which in, after we sit in the oven to bake.”
And like everyone else who has that secret added touch, so does Mapp Street Marketplace.
Natalie Robinson
“We have our own secret essence and different condiments that we use.”
Marion Ali
“That you want share?”
Natalie Robinson
“Yes. We won’t share that part. After you put in all your I your dry ingredients, then you put in your coconut milk and you mix it to the texture that you want it to mix because you know some people don’t like their bun too soft. Some people don’t like their bun too hard. You mix it to the texture that you want it to mix it. Yes. Then after that, you cut it into the size you want it to be cooked. Then you put it on your baking pan. You let it set for maybe 35 to five, five minutes to raise, to the extent to where you want it to raise. Then you put it in the oven to bake for lakes like 20, 25 minutes, 350 degrees.”
Sometimes, Robinson and her colleagues also put aside their own recipes to can make your cross buns just the way you want them.
Marion Ali
“So if I would want a special blend, maybe I have my own recipe, but I don’t have the time. Would you do that?”
Natalie Robinson
“Yes. That’s where we come in at the commissary. That’s exactly where we come in. We have our catering manager, Ms. Sheridan Garbutt, where you can contact her at catering manager that RBG dot Belize G and her phone number is 632 0308.”
For people watching their diet, Robinson says you can opt for either shortening or butter and you can also add light milk instead of whole milk and it won’t change the texture or taste of the finished product. Marion Ali for News Five.
