BVI Conch Fritter Recipe
No matter where I am in the Caribbean, I constantly look for the BEST conch fritters.
I try these island favorites in every local restaurant, with varying amounts of luck.
I am going to share with you my tried-and-true recipe for conch fritters, which I have made hundreds of times over the years. This one is still my favorite, but I have found a few in Restaurants that came close, and I will give you some places to try below.
First, you have to gather, buy, and prepare your conch. If you’re in a location where it’s legal to gather conch, great! If not, don’t worry, it’s easy to find the meat already prepared for you locally.
Even better, look for local fisherman cleaning their conch on the many conch piles in the Virgin Islands and ask if you can buy it fresh.
Where are the conch piles in the BVI?
- Several around Anegada
- Salt Island by Manhead Point
- South Sound on the North side of Virgin Gorda
While there may be more, these are the main conch cleaning locations. It’s worth noting that the fishermen play a crucial role in maintaining the conch population, as they often return to the same piles to clean their conch and discard the shells.
Folklore or genuine, the story is that the conch will leave the area if there are too many dead conch around!
How do you clean conch?
- Place your conch flat down on a surface
- Take a hammer and a cold, cold chisel ( the local fisherman typically has a little axe that they have shaped to do this), count into the second groove on the top, and make a hole in your shell.
- Get a sharp, flexible knife and place it in the hole you made, making sure to cut all the muscle away all the way around. The goal here is to cut the muscle that attaches it to the shell and leave a lot of the yucky bits right at the top of the shell.
- It will slip right out if you have done this correctly. Good luck!
- Another method is to freeze the conch and pull it out without having to cut a hole in the shell. This method also tenderizes the conch.
- Once you have your meat out, cut off the foot. You will see a dark line up one side of the conch. This is the stomach’s digestive tract, and you can cut that out.
- Clean off the odd bits and pieces very slimly around the conch and tidy it up.
- On charter yachts, in days gone by, it was said that the penis was an aphrodisiac, and we would often talk a guest into downing this!
- You are still going to find your conch very slimy. Rinse it well!!! Very well.
- Now, you are on to tenderizing. I use a meat tenderizer. Hammer it out very well.
- A food processor is very handy now. I typically would pulverize the conch in there until it was a large, pasty, almost dough-like consistency. Most places leave it in larger chunks in their conch fritters, but I prefer them pulverized.
How to assemble your conch fritter recipe
Of course, this is all guesswork and depends on how many conch you have. I find that 3-4 large conch, preferably fresh, are good for about 14 people as a healthy appetizer. I cannot give you measurements, only ideas and ingredients.
- Chop vegetables relatively small. I use what I have. I try to make sure I always have peppers, red or green, green onions, but also celery, carrots, mushrooms, plain onions—just about anything I have on hand. The adventurous can use Scotch Bonnet peppers!
- Add fresh garlic, 2-3 cloves minced very small.
- Add a healthy dose of lemon or lime juice and a couple of splashes of Tabasco or other favorite hot sauce. If you have fresh lemons or limes, go that way. Remember, fresh ingredients always make a difference!
- Seasonings. Use according to your preference! I use Salt and Pepper, Seasoning Salt, Goya, and sometimes, if I am in the mood, a touch of curry, maybe a bit of dill weed.
- Mix all this with your conch meat by hand and add flour until it is a medium sticky dough.
Cook your Conch Fritters
This is always tricky if you are on a yacht, so I hope it is a catamaran and a calm anchorage. I heat a pot on the stove with vegetable oil until it is quite hot, 350-375 degrees. Test it by putting a drop of water in or a tiny piece of conch fritter in.
Spoon fritter-sized portions into the oil and deep fry in the hot oil until golden brown. They will float to the surface when they are done. Maybe 6 minutes? Of course, it depends on the size of your fritters!
Place them on a paper towel and let the oil reheat before you go onto the next batch. Repeat until you are finished.
Cocktail sauce for Conch Fritters
My preferred sauce! Mix the following in a bowl:
- Mayonnaise
- Ketchup- about equal portions
- chilled or fresh grated horseradish
- Fresh ground pepper
Mix for taste and immediately serve as a dipping sauce with your conch fritters!
British Virgin Islands Conch Fritters
Let’s face it. The chances of you doing this on your yacht charter vacation are slim. Here are some places around the British Virgin Islands where you can sit with a cold beer and order as many as you want to try out!
- Cooper Island Beach Club. It’s always a favorite!
- Cow Wreck Beach on Anegada. Check out the recipe for these killer conch fritters here.
- Myetts in Cane Garden Bay
- One of my favorites has always been the conch fritters at Fat Virgin in North Sound. Unfortunately, this has been closed since the hurricanes of 2017. We do hope it comes back now that Biras Creek has opened back up in 2024!
Try them out while traveling around The Caribbean yourself, and let us know who you think has the Best BVI Conch fritter recipe! Double points if you get their recipe.
