Cigar Weekly

I promise, that will be the only off-color reference in this article (but it sure got your attention, didn't it?). All sophomoric jokes about the name aside, Jerk is a great way to prepare just about any kind of meat. It works best on pork and poultry, but it can also be used with beef, fish and other seafoods. I've even made jerked lamb (goat is a popular jerk meat in the islands). Jerk doesn't just refer to a seasoning blend, it's a whole cooking method. In fact, the name 'jerk' refers to the method of flipping the meat over the fire. In Jamaica, where the method originates, the meat is traditionally grilled over a fire made of green allspice (also called pimiento) wood. I doubt seriously that you're going to be able to find any of that in the States, but that doesn't mean you still can't make really great jerked meat. Pork was the traditional choice for making jerk, but chicken is now jerked and sold in Jamaica - usually with extra jerk sauce on the side and with a Festival (their name for a long, sweet corn dumpling).

Figure 1: Butterflying a chicken is easy. Use a pair of kitchen shears and cut along both sides of the backbone.

Figure 2: Once the backbone is removed, flip the chicken over and press it flat in the center against the counter. You may hear the breastbone pop. That's OK.

Figure 3: Loosen the skin from the meat with your fingers. Go all the way down into the leg.

Figure 4: Get as much of the rub under the skin as you can.

Figure 5: If you use pork butt, make crossing, inch-deep slices in the surface and rub the jerk into the cuts. If you choose 'Country-style' ribs, slather them in run and allow time to marinate.

Figure 6: Your grill will need a hot zone and a cool zone, so pile your coals on the side away from where you plan to roast the meat.

Figure 7: The finished bird. Cut along the middle and then separate the breast quarter from the thigh quarter. Serve 1/4 chicken per person.

Figure 8: The finished country-style ribs. Grab a rib and a Festival and get busy!

Jerk is as much a paste as it is a rub. It can be thinned with olive oil to become more like a sauce, but traditionally it is thick and hearty and deeply penetrates the fibers of the meat it is applied to.

Before I give you the recipe, a few words about handling hot peppers. The peppers you are going to use to make these recipes are very hot: 200 times hotter than a jalapeño. You aren't likely to be using very many of them - unless you are a true 'chilehead' like my wife - but you need to follow some safety precautions:

*  Wear a pair of latex gloves when processing hot peppers. You can buy 50 pairs of them at the pharmacy (often in the supermarket's pharmacy) for about $5. Trust me, you'd pay three times that amount to keep from getting capsicum in your eyes or other 'sensitive' areas. You'll find other ways of using them. Don't be cheap...buy the gloves.

*  Keep a bottle of Dawn by the sink and wash your hands with it twice immediately after removing the gloves. Why Dawn? It is a very good de-greaser. Capsicum (the stuff that makes peppers hot) is an oil and a de-greasing detergent (not all dishwashing detergents are de-greasers) will break it up and allow it to be washed away.

*  Do not - under any circumstances - rub your eyes, nose or even go to the bathroom until you have completed steps 1 and 2. Do this any time you come into contact with the peppers or the mixture during the preparation process. They use this stuff to subdue hardened violent criminals (pepper spray) because it hurts so badly without leaving any lasting damage. As one who has had the stuff in their eyes, I can personally attest to how painful it can be. If you do manage to get it into your eyes, get your head under a faucet and run cold water directly into them. Try hard not to scream, as it really tends to upset the women and children to hear you bellowing like a wounded wildebeast in the kitchen.

*  Understand the structure of the pepper. Contrary to popular thought, the highest concentration of capsicum oil is not in the seeds...it is in the ribs that the seeds grow out of. If you want to tone down the heat without sacrificing flavor, you will want to not only strip out the seeds, but also the membrane they are attached to.

 

OK, on to the recipe. This recipe was adapted from one published in the June/July 1994 issue of Fine Cooking magazine by Jay B McCarthy, a native of Jamaica and a chef. He suggests that hand-chopping the ingredients yields the best results, but let's be realistic. Once you see what's in it you'll grab the food processor just like I did. He also advocates fresh-grinding the spices - a practice that I usually advocate myself. However, not everybody is like me and has 3 coffee grinders around (and uses only one of them for grinding coffee). If you can't grind your own, use the packaged stuff. You'll still produce a great result. Chef McCarthy suggests that you double the spice amounts if you are going to go the packaged route.

*  30 scallions (green onions)
*  5" piece of fresh ginger, peeled (I confess that I have used one of the little jars of processed ginger instead and thought it was just as good)
*  6-8 Scotch Bonnet peppers (more or less to suit your heat tolerance. You can substitute habaneros, but you should add the optional ingredients to add the sweet and apricot flavors Scotch Bonnets have)
*  2 t. Nutmeg
*  2 t. Cinnamon
*  1 T. Allspice
*  2 T. ground black peppercorns
*  2 T. coriander
*  1 T. Kosher salt
*  1 C. fresh thyme leaves, chopped

 

Optional ingredients:

*  1 t. apricot jam or preserves
*  " C. oil (if you want to thin it for a sauce)

 

Now for the technique. Traditionally, a pork shoulder (either a fresh ham or a Boston Butt roast) would be used to jerk pork. It would be cut across the surface of the meat diagonally and the cuts would be 1" apart and cross-hatched (make x's) about an inch deep to get the marinade deep into the meat. For purposes of this article, I've used bone-in country-style ribs (the end of the loin cut) instead.

For a chicken, the first thing you'll want to do is butterfly it. This involves taking a pair of kitchen shears and cutting along the backbone on both sides. (Figure 1) Once the backbone is removed, turn the chicken over and lay it flat on the counter, pressing down on the breast with the palm of your hand to snap the breastbone and allow it to lay flat. (Figure 2) Next, from the back end, slip your fingers under the skin and loosen the skin from the breast, thigh and leg. Do this on both sides of the chicken. (Figure 3) Now take your jerk paste and slip it under the skin, pushing it in as far back into the leg as you can. The object is to get a good bit of the jerk paste over as much chicken as you can. (Figure 4) When this is accomplished, wrap the bird in plastic wrap or foil and place it in the refrigerator to marinate overnight.

For pork, you can use the traditional method or you can pack a substantial amount on the country-style ribs. (Figure 5) Also wrap the pork up and refrigerate it overnight.

If you're cooking indoors, set your oven to 375 degrees and cook the meat or bird to an internal temperature of 140 degrees for pork and 170 degrees for chicken (take your temperature reading from the thickest part of the thigh away from the bone.

If you grill year-round like I do, you'll need to make a 2 zone fire. Pile your charcoal on one side of the grill and place an aluminum baking dish on the other. (Figure 6) Build your fire and when your coals have reached the point you like, place the chicken or pork on the other side. If you want a smoky flavor, add a few chunks of hickory, oak, or cherry on the fire to produce some smoke. Roast, turning the chicken to face the hot part of the fire on all four sides. I'd turn it every 15 minutes and take my first temperature reading at an hour's time. When it reaches the temperatures listed above, remove and let rest for 10 minutes before serving. The easiest way to serve the chicken is to make one cut right down the middle from head to rear, splitting the bird in two. From there, cut along the breast to separate it from the thigh. (Figure 7) Serve 1/4 chicken per person. (Figure 8)

The only recipe for Festival I've ever seen was produced by a Jamaican brand of foods called Grace. I've changed the proprietary ingredients (this recipe apparently came from a package and you aren't likely to find Grace products in the States anyway) in the recipe below.

*  1/2 C. flour
*  1 t. baking powder
*  1 T. Margarine or butter
*  1 C. cornmeal
*  1/4 C. sugar
*  1 t. nutmeg
*  1/2 t. salt
*  1 t. lime juice
*  1/2 C. water
*  1/2 C. oil for frying

In one large bowl, sift flour and baking powder. Add cornmeal, sugar, nutmeg, salt, margarine, lime juice and enough water to bind mixture to a manageable dough. Leave to stand for two minutes. Heat oil in a pan, shape festival into fingers and fry. Drain on absorbent paper.

If you like, you can thin the remaining marinade with the oil and use it as a dipping sauce. If not, you can refrigerate it for a couple of weeks and jerk something else later.

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Contributing Editor and CW Executive Chef Jason Clabaugh (BigO) hailed from New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and has settled in a suburb of Atlanta. With the addition of a new baby to his family he's refocused his energies on fatherhood and a new project bringing his famous mango-habanero salsa and unique barbecue sauces into commercial production.