Meaning
A rich Jamaican dish in which fish, classically salted mackerel, or other ingredients are simmered in coconut milk cooked down until it 'runs down' into a thick, oily, savoury custard. Seasoned with onion, tomato, scotch bonnet, and thyme, rundown is traditionally eaten with boiled green banana and dumpling, the deep coconut gravy the heart of it. Humble but deeply loved, it turns cheap salt fish and coconut into something rich and satisfying, one of the classic old-time dishes of the Jamaican country kitchen.
Examples
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Mumma cook mackerel rundown wid green banana.
Mum cooked mackerel rundown with green banana.
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Di coconut milk run down till it thick an oily.
The coconut milk cooked down until it was thick and oily.
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Rundown taste best wid a piece a hard dough bread.
Rundown tastes best with a piece of hard dough bread.
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Granny mek run dung wid mackerel dis mawnin.
Grandma made run down with mackerel this morning.
'mawnin' shows the common vowel shift; run dung is often a breakfast dish.
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Yuh haffi bwoil di coconut milk till it run dung.
You have to boil the coconut milk until it breaks down into oil.
Shows the verbal origin of the name: the milk literally 'runs down'.
Origin
Named for the way the coconut milk is boiled and 'run down' (reduced) to a thick, custardy base; a traditional coastal Jamaican dish.
How it’s used
Most often 'mackerel rundown'. The name refers to the reduced-coconut cooking method.