Rotisserie chicken, a different style of cooking

GREVIC ALVARADO

Although family sharing is the same, Trinidadian and Latino cooking styles are different. Another example of this is the way chicken is prepared for a small party or gathering of friends.

Rafael Fuenmayor, owner of the Montserrat's restaurant located on Aranguez Main Road, specialising in Venezuelan-style rotisserie chicken, explains the previous process to give the chicken more flavour has different stages than the traditional Trinidadian barbecue.

Fuenmayor came to Trinidad and Tobago in November 2017. He was born in Maracaibo, Zulia state, Venezuela, a city where street food is one of the best in Latin America.

His father has a similar restaurant in Venezuela which he opened in 2010. It is there that Fuenmayor learned to prepeare this style of chicken.

Since arriving here, Fuenmayor had various jobs but always dreamed of opening his own restaurant.

In July 2021, after the restaurants reopened following relaxation of covid19 measures, Fuenmayor made his dream come true and opened his small restaurant.

"While working for other people, I saved up and bought some of the equipment thinking about my restaurant. I was very self-conscious, but in the end it was worth it," he said.

His wife, Laura Arias, was his main support and today his cooking partners include Helduin Meza, Oscar Aguilera and Jesús Silva who are also specialists in roasted chicken.

They are bringing the taste of Venezuelan-style chicken to the palates of the locals. The roasted chicken is not parboiled, they marinate it 24 hours before cooking.

"Once the whole chicken is defrosted and cleaned, we pierce it so the seasoning then soaks into the chicken so it has flavour both inside and out," he said.

This chicken, once seasoned, is stored with a moist mixture of various seasonings for 24 hours that will give it its final flavour.

The chicken is seasoned with onion, chives, paprika, sweet pepper, garlic, parsley, bay leaf, tropical seasoning, spices, salt, pepper.

Once the chicken has passed the marinating time, it goes through the oven at a temperature of 180 to 200 degrees Celsius, which lasts from one-and-a-half to two hours depending on the size of the chicken.

Fuenmayor explained in TT there are roasting ovens, but not with the same characteristics as those used in Venezuela.

"Our oven was brought from Venezuela through a shipping company has the capacity to cook about 24 chickens at the same time with rotating rods that cook all the chicken simultaneously," said Fuenmayor.

This oven is priced at around $12,000.

Once the chicken is cooked, roasted according to the clients' request, it is removed and chopped into quarters and placed on trays accompanied by various sides. These include french fries, salads, fried arepas, Venezuelan tostones, wedges, fried cassava, onion rings and the traditional Venezuelan sauces of guasacaca, garlic, corn, tartar, ketchup, barbecue sauce and a special sauce brand called Monserrat.

A whole chicken with three sides and a two-litre soda cost $140, which three or four people can share and there are quarter and half-chicken portions available also.