
Jerk - Jamaica's Hot and Spicey Dish
Hot and spicey with a flavorful hint of smoke, Jamaican famous jerk cooking style is the result of the struggles of runaway slaves - the Maroons, to survive against a formidable British force in a harsh and inhospitable surrounding for more than 80 years.
If "Necessity is the mother of inventions." then it is no surpise that Jerk, the legendary Jamaican cooking style was invented. When the Spanish Lost Jamaica to the British in 1665, they freed their slaves - called the Moroons. To evade the British, the Maroons took to the rugged mountains of Portland and the untamed eerie, and inhospitable landscape of the Cockpit Country in Trelawny.
Determined not be enslaved again, the Maroons fought the British for more than 80 years and in the process won themselves the unusual autonomy of self-rule - unheard of for African slaves in the New World.
The Maroons were constantly on the move to evade the British. To survive in the harsh environments, they hunted far and wide for wild pigs, which were often spoiled before they had a chance to cook them. So they rubbed the pork with local spices and smoked it with the indigenous pimento woods over a pit they dug in the ground. They called the process charqui, the Spanish word for dried or preserved meat. The smoke both cured and preserved the meat that could then last for days.
A few centuries later after they have been freed, the Maroons would sell their jerk pork in the towns and very soon jerk became a popular Jamaican street food. Today, Jamaica jerk cusine is a favorite with locals as well as people around the world.
Preparation
So what is the secret of Jamaica jerk cooking? First you have to start with the special seasonings. These include pimento seeds, scallions, thyme, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and Jamaica's famous Scott bonnet pepper. These spices are throughly rubbed into every crevices of the meat which is then allowed to marinade overnight.
Jerk is more about spicey flavors rather than being spicey-hot but jerk would not be the same without a little hot "kick" to the palette. Furthermore, Jamaicans, on a whole, tend to like their foods on spicey-hot side. Although you can use other kind of peppers, the Scott bonnet is unique in its flavor and is therefore the preferred choice.
Cooking
Once the meats are prepared and marinated, it is time to jerk it. To "jerk" meat properly, it must lie flat over the smoke pit. For pork the major bones are removed and the smaller ones cracked to make it lie flat. The meats are then placed on pimento woods over a pit with burning charcoal and covered with a sheet of corrugated galvanized zinc. The zinc sheet helps keep in the meat natural juices and prevents it from loosing its flavor.
The meat is cooked evenly over medium-low heat for about three hours and is then moved to the side and allowed to smoke and slow-cook for the rest of the day. The smoke saturates the meat with the scent of the pimento wood which gives jerk its special flavor.
Where to eat
Although you have many places that still "jerk" meat the old-fashioned way, majority of roadside jerk stops and restaurants prepare jerk meats from bottled jerk sauce on a regular grill or, more commonly, in drum pan cut length wise in half.
Real jerk, however, can only be done over a pit lined with pimento wood. Two popular places that still jerk meats in this way are Boston Jerk Centre in Portland and Chelsea's Jerk Centre in Kingston. When I worked in Kingston in the early 1980's, Chelsea Jerk Center was the place my colleages and I would eat most Friday evenings.
Boston Jerk Center is around since the 1960's and is ledgendary for the taste of its Jerk meats. However, if you ever plan on going there, don't expect to find any fancy place despite its long and historical existence. In fact, you might very well drive pass it since there are no major signs advertising its location.