Grillin’ Low and Slow
From seductively spicy to searingly hot, Jamaican jerk pork is a perfect dish for languid summer days.
By Josiah Slone
When I was a chef working in the Caribbean island of Jamaica, I spent my spare time traveling the countryside in search of great food. Jamaica has a long culinary tradition that has been passed down through generations, combining some of the indigenous flavors with those brought over by the African slaves, and later the Indian and Chinese indentured servants. Undeniably, the best known export of Jamaican cuisine is jerk cooking.
Jerk is a moderately spiced to fiery marinade paste (or sometimes dry rub) applied to meat or fish (pork, chicken and small fish being the most common) and grill-smoked to perfection. I traveled to Port Antonio, “the home of jerk,” to taste some of the most traditional jerk pork. Half a pig is rubbed with, in this case, a super fiery marinade and then grilled very slowly over a huge pit sitting atop green allspice branches. The smoke and slow cooking yield a result that is succulent, smoky and searingly hot. (Thankfully, they also sold ice cold Red Stripe beer, of which I drank several.)
It’s not always convenient to dig a pit and cook half a pig, so modernists often use a 55-gallon oil drum that is cut in half to form a “jerk pan” or covered barbecue. Often mounted on a cart, enterprising roadside vendors sell jerk pork, chicken and fish by the pound, accompanied by slices of dense and sweet bread known as hardo.
There are almost as many jerk recipes as there are cooks in Jamaica, but they all share certain ingredients: allspice, scallions, thyme and scotch bonnet (same family as habanero) peppers. Other possible ingredients include ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cloves and soy sauce. While some jerk recipes can be mouth-numbingly hot, others tend to be more spiced, with the allspice and thyme taking center stage, punctuated by a spike of heat from the scotch bonnet pepper.
Jerk chicken and fish are great, but in my opinion, jerk is all about the pork. For jerk, I like to use the cheap cuts: Tenderloins and loin chops are too lean for this cooking method, and will end up dry. For me, the ultimate cut to use for jerk is a 1½-inch thick bone-in “shoulder chop.” You may have to go to a butcher who can cut it for you, but you won’t be disappointed.
I would love to have a jerk pan for my backyard, but until then, a round Weber type barbecue works quite well, with a few minor modifications. The key is to ensure you can control the heat inside the barbecue. In my mind, good jerk pork can’t be rushed – low and slow is the best way. So grab a 12-pack of Red Stripe beer, listen to some Bob Marley and relax as the barbecue works its magic.
To grill “low and slow,” you need to build a fire on only one side of the grill, and use the indirect heat on the other side of the grill to cook and smoke the pork. (Unless you want pork drippings on your patio, remember to place a drip pan under the half of the grill that doesn’t have the fire.) It’s best to use big chunks of natural mesquite charcoal, not the briquettes. They will burn slowly and be able to last for the entire three hours of cooking. Either way, you may need to “feed” the fire with some fresh coals after an hour or two.
In total, the cooking time over indirect heat should be about three hours. The result will be succulent and juicy jerk pork. I can feel the island breeze already.
Recipe: Jerk Pork
INGREDIENTS
Meat:
8 pounds of 1½-inch thick pork butt chops (4 big pieces, around 2 pounds each)
Marinade:
1 bunch thyme
1 thumb ginger
2 bunches scallions
15 cloves garlic
½ cup whole allspice berries
1 cup canola oil
½ cup soy sauce
1 to 5 habanero peppers (1 is fairly mild, 5 is really hot – any more and you’re on your own!)
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 thumb ginger
2 bunches scallions
15 cloves garlic
½ cup whole allspice berries
1 cup canola oil
½ cup soy sauce
1 to 5 habanero peppers (1 is fairly mild, 5 is really hot – any more and you’re on your own!)
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
Method
1. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a blender and blend until it forms a smooth paste.
2. Puncture meat at ½-inch intervals with a metal skewer or a Jaccard tenderizing tool.
3. Marinate meat with paste, cover and refrigerate overnight or longer.
4. Build a medium-size fire on one side of the grill and put a drip pan on the other side.
5. Allow the flames to subside and place the meat on the grill above the drip pan. Cover the grill and adjust the vents so that a thin and constant stream of smoke comes out of the top.
6. After about an hour, turn the meat and, if necessary, adjust the positioning of the coals to avoid hot spots. Continue checking and turning every half hour. “Feed” the grill with a couple of new coals if needed.
7. After about three hours, when the meat is tender, uncover and move over the direct heat to finish browning if needed.
8. Chop into chunks and serve with jerk sauce (see page 54), plus bread or rice and what’s left of the 12-pack of Red Stripe you’ve been working on.
JERK SAUCE
4 cups ketchup
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground allspice
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup cane vinegar
¼ - ½ minced habanero pepper (optional)
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground allspice
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup cane vinegar
¼ - ½ minced habanero pepper (optional)
Combine in small saucepan and simmer over low heat, stirring frequently until it is back to the original consistency of ketchup.
Josiah Slone is the chef/owner of Sent Sovi, 14583 Big Basin Way, Saratoga (408) 867-3110 www.sentsovi.com.
*This Article appeared in Volume 8, Issue 14 of The Wave Magazine.
