Windy City to Windy Seas: Conch-ering the Conch

"Conch " is pronounced "konk" and, as the old Creole saying goes, "conch ain't got no bones" but it sure has delicious meat and a beautiful shell. The Caribbean islands are full of conch and conch shells.

Conch farmed on the reef here in Providenciales, Caicos

Historically, conch was a major food source for the Arawak Indians who inhabited the islands in earliest days. The shell was used by the Arawaks to create chisels, axes, musical instruments, and carvings. When Columbus sailed to the islands in 1492, he found conchs "as big as the head of a calf," and he and his men ate conch too. Once Columbus' ships carried conch shells to Spain, Europeans began to collect them for decoration and to create carved cameos and jewelry. In the 1800's, thousands of conch shells were shipped to Europe from the Caribbean.

Empty conch shells

There are apparently lots of different kinds of conch: queen conch, ivory conch, milk conch, samba, hankwing, to name a few.

Finding a conch here in the Turks and Caicos Islands is pretty easy, but getting the meat out is a different story. Probably the most efficient and easiest way is to punch a hole in the third spiral of the shell and cut the muscle which attaches the conch to the shell. Then the meat drops out of the shell.

Raw conch meat

Another method is crueler and slower, but keeps the shell from being damaged. A hook is run through the "foot" of the conch and the shell is hung from a line until the conch meat drops out.

Eeeeewwww.

Once the cook has the conch meat out of the shell, it is prepared by skinning the muscle and then tenderizing the skinned muscle. There are no bones, but the meat is extremely tough and is pretty inedible unless it's tenderized first. Tenderizing conch is not like quickly and lightly pounding a chicken breast or steak. The cook needs to pound the meat with a heavy metal meat mallet or a rolling pin and beat the hell out of it. Alternatively, the meat can be ground up in a food processor or even a blender, depending on what you want to make. Conch chowder is a common entry on local menus here, as are conch fritters, conch stew, fried conch strips, and Kent's and my favorite: conch seviche.

Conch fritters

Kent and coinch seviche

Conch seviche

Curried conch

Conch Creole

By the way, I am told that conch meat is high in protein and 3.5 ounces is only 137 calories. And it tastes even better, no matter what the dish, seaside in the Caribbean!