Lambi Prep

"Whatcha doing?"

Lambi is Conch.  It is very common this time of year in Carriacou.  Lambi divers (fishermen) deliver fresh lambi in the morning to various restaurants.

BIG bowl of lambi

After two long hikes this morning, we stopped at the Lazy Turtle in Tyrrell Bay for a pizza lunch.  While we were waiting for our pizza, a guy working there carried a big bowl down the steps and out onto the dock.  We watched with curiosity.  He filled another bowl with sea water and then set about tenderizing lambi.  Tenderizing consists of pounding the heck out of it with something.... in this case, it was a wooden stick.  Not an easy task as lambi is tough straight out of the shell.

Noland my instructor making sure I do it right

Of course I couldn't stand it, so headed down to the dock to get a better look and hopefully learn something.  Noland explained the process, showing me as he went.  However, our pizza was ready soon so I didn't stay long.  I wasn't worried though.  This tenderizing method takes quite a bit of time for each lambi and he had a big bowl (qty) to process.

Luckily I never hit my fingers but given enough time and lambi.....

After lunch I headed back down to the dock to continue learning.  "Can I try doing one?" I asked.  He looked a tad surprised but gladly let me try.  He cut the eye(s) out and then sliced it part of the way through so it would lay out flatter and would be easier to hang on to.  They are quite slippery.  He handed to me and I set about pounding it to tenderize it.  Again, not any easy task.  At first I struggled to get all the areas and to get it tender enough.  Lambi shrapnel flew everywhere - my clothes, arms, hat, into the sea.  Finally I got it down.  I did probably 8 total before we moved on down the beach.  It was quite a workout.