05/12/2021
At Gigi's Puff Pastries, it is important that our puff pastry fillings are loaded with flavor that will excite any and all palates. One of the main ingredients that goes into all our savory patés is our countries well known Epis. Within our culture, it is not only important to create dishes with tons of flavor but having absolutely fresh ingredients is key. In Haiti, Epis is a seasoning blend that is mainly used to marinate all types of meats but can also be used in making our famous rice and bean dishes, soups, stew, etc. Haitian Epis is made up of various fresh types of onions, peppers, garlic and herbs.
Being the eldest daughter of two native Haitians, I was no stranger to helping my mom in the kitchen. I was always tasked with cleaning and marinating any meat that would be prepared. You might ask yourself, "what does cleaning meat involve?" I wish I can say it meant simply running your meat under some water and we were done. Not at all! Similar to a few of our other sister islands, cleaning meat was a whole theatrical event, from using fresh lime, white vinegar, salt, removing excess fat if needed and running the meat under hot water several times or boiling in hot water. Many Haitian homes tend to add their own spin to their Epis but the end result would always provide a fresh and bold kick to any meal. Using a mòtye ak pilon (mortar and pestle) we would mash these ingredient together to create our seasoning blend.
At Gigi's Puff Pastries, we create our own Haitian Epis with fresh ingredients that goes into preparing each of our savory fillings. We allow each meat to marinate in the seasoning blend overnight before cooking to ensure that the flavors absorb all the way through. When combining the flaky buttery dough and our marinated savory fillings, you get to taste the culture with every bite.
Taste the culture by placing your paté orders today at 646-964-8677 or [email protected]