Cooking like a Sailor - Fu-fu
In The Sailor's Word Book, fu-fu is described as "a well-known sea dish made from barley and treacle, which was particularly popular on merchant ships, but also in the navy. The original fu-fu is a porridge made from, yams, sweet potatoes or starches such as rice, cassava and corn and is thought to have originated in Ghana, but it is generally found in West Africa as well as the Caribbean.
On the merchant ships it seems to have spread via the slave trade, while the navy mostly got it from the sailors of these regions. English sailors generally didn't have yams, so barley must have been a reasonable alternative, even if it ended up in a bit of a mess, but well, you had to cut corners somewhere. But today you're lucky that you can buy fu-fu flour and use it as a substitute for barley meal. But here is the recipe with barley:
1 cup barley meal 4 cups water 1 1/2 tablespoon treacle 3 tablespoons sugar
Mix barley and a cup of water in a saucepan. In another saucepan, bring the remaining cups of water to the boil. Then pour the boiling water into the saucepan and stir very well so that no lumps form. Bring the mixture to the boil and cook for 2 minutes, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes at the lowest possible heat. Remove from the heat, stir in the treacle and sugar and serve immediately. You can also use 2 tablespoons honey and 2 tablespoons brandy instead of treacle and sugar
Bon appétit.
