Fish Tacos

"Giulia's cooking was like herself, elegant and delicate – in bearing she was more the fastidious aristocrat than the sturdy peasant – subtly seasoned, but with unexpected contrasts, as in a cold, uncooked tomato sauce which she served with hot dry rice." – Elizabeth David, from An Omelette and a Glass of Wine






As the legend goes, a cook by the name of Stone Eyes had been taken captive by Captain Hap Rayne's crew, stationed as they were in the shallows at Nassau New Providence at the time of the Golden Age of Piracy when pirates outnumbered citizens on the island a good two to one.

The marauding black flag ship Her Bounty's treasure chests full, it was not yet allowed to shore by the active canons of Fort Montague located at the top of the hill in the center of town.  Her Bounty had five million in gold bullion but nowhere yet to trade and had lost its cook taking the Spanish cargo carrier the Basque only three days ago. Stone Eyes had one very critical problem: he could not see,

and looked at you, as they say, with two round ghost-like marbles for eyes.  Place the proper food down to his cutting board, however, and he could work miracles unlike any other, for he could feel and smell with a near divine ability.  The lone woman on board had become Stone Eye's assistant becoming, in a sense, quartermaster of the galley. She was left alone because of her importance to the task of assisting in feeding a crew.  Giulia wrote down Stone Eye's recipes and kept them in an assortment of sealed bottles to keep dry.  Only one remained at the later sinking of Her Bounty, 'Fish on Bread,' which called for flounder grilled over an open pit and seasoned by a

homemade blend of dried thyme, paprika, onion powder, cayenne, salt and pepper.  The fish, sliced in long strips, and drizzled – if by any chance available – the juice of lime or a crushed mango, would be spread over stacks of the preserved corn tortillas.  The men of the crew always knew when it was fish on bread night and might be found shucking their posts at top decks to steal a sizzling sample.