Rundown is a spicy fish stew, the bouillabaisse of Jamaica. It simmers so long it runs down, which is to say thickens up.
I expected a long day of running down rundown. I cooked up Jamaican staples: tomato, pepper, onion, pepper, garlic, pepper and coconut milk. I dropped in cubes of fresh cod, which seemed to cook on contact. Done. Early. An eerie feeling.
Apparently the long run-up to rundown is cracking open a coconut, hacking the flesh to chunks, grinding the chunks to slurry, straining the slurry to milk and boiling the milk to custard.
But in my kitchen _ so far from palm tree, so close to grocery store _ all it takes is a twist of wrist to crack open a can. Making rundown a home run.
