Jerk Cooking

 

Below is an article about a cooking style known as Jerk cooking:

JERK COOKING

There is a cooking style for a variety of meats that has become basically immortalized for many around the world. This cooking style, which originated on the island of Jamaica is known as Jerk cooking. This cooking style involves meat that is dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice.

Many historians believe this Jamaican jerk seasoning was developed by escaped enslaved Coromantee Africans in Jamaica. But other historians have unearthed evidence that jerked meat was actually created by local indigenous people called the Tainos. When the British had invaded Jamaica in 1655, the Spanish colonists fled and left behind a large number of African slaves. Rather than be re-enslaved by the British, the Coromantees escaped into Jamaica's mountainous regions where they mixed in with the local Taínos. It appears that these runaway slaves, who became the island's first Jamaican Maroons, learnt this cooking practice from the Tainos.

Many believe that while the Tainos developed the style of cooking and seasoning, the Maroons introduced the marinade and use of cooking pits. All racial groups hunted the wild hog in the Jamaican interior and used the practice of jerking to cook it in the seventeenth century. However, by the end of the eighteenth century, most groups had switched to imported pork products. Only the Maroons continued the practice of hunting wild hogs and jerking the pork.

When the Maroons found themselves in new surroundings on Jamaica, they were forced to use what was available to them. As a result, they adapted to their surroundings and used herbs and spices available to them on the island such as cloves, cinnamon, scallions, nutmeg, thyme, garlic, brown sugar, ginger, salt and especially Scotch bonnet pepper; which is largely responsible for the heat found in Caribbean jerks. They also cooked their seasoned wild hogs over pimento wood, which was native to Jamaica at the time. This wood is still the most important ingredient in the taste of the meat.

Jerk cooking and seasoning has followed the Caribbean diaspora all over the world. Jerk seasoning is not only used on pork; but also chicken, tofu, fish, shrimp, shellfish, beef, sausage, lamb, goat and vegetables. All forms of jerk can now be found at restaurants almost anywhere a significant population of Caribbean descent exists. They include such locations as the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Inhabitants on the French-speaking Caribbean islands developed the poulet boucané ("smoked chicken"), which is quite similar to traditional Jamaican jerk chicken.

Here is a recipe for Jerk Pork Shoulder from thespruceeats.com website:


Jerk Pork Shoulder

Ingredients

*1/2 cup ground allspice berries
*1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
*6 to 8 garlic cloves
*4 to 6 Scotch bonnet chile peppers (trimmed and seeded, wear gloves)
*1 tablespoons ground thyme (or 3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves)
*2 bunches scallions (green onions, greens included, trimmed and chopped into 2-inch pieces)
*1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
*1/2​ teaspoons ground nutmeg
*2 teaspoons Kosher salt
*Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
*2 tablespoons soy sauce (to moisten)
*1 (6- to 9-pound) pork picnic shoulder roast


Preparation

*Gather the ingredients.

*Place allspice, brown sugar, garlic, Scotch bonnet peppers, thyme, scallions, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and soy sauce in a food processor. Blend until smooth.

*With a sharp knife, score the thick fat on the pork shoulder into a diamond pattern, but do not cut into the meat.

*Using gloved hands, press and massage a thick coating of the jerk sauce on the exterior of the pork so it is completely covered with a thick coat. Refrigerate any leftover sauce. It will keep for a month or more.

*Place the pork in a roasting pan and cover with a lid, foil, or plastic wrap. Refrigerate to marinate at least 24 hours or for up to two days.

*When ready to cook, let the pork sit at room temperature at least one hour or until it reaches room temperature. Then, preheat oven to 450 F.

*Line a roasting pan with heavy foil and insert a roasting rack.

*Roast pork uncovered for 30 minutes at this high heat, and then lower the temperature to 325 F.

*Bake an additional 3 1/2 to 4 hours, depending on the size of your pork shoulder. If you notice the pork is starting to burn, place aluminum foil over it.

*Let roast rest at least 30 minutes before carving.

*Serve.

Tip: Jamaican jerk pork is not a dish to leave to the last minute. This recipe requires that you plan in advance. You need to let the pork marinate for at least 24 hours before roasting it.