The key ingredient has arrived.
The key ingredient has arrived.
Ricky Ginsburg
Fort Collins, Colorado
(Where it's always a Rocky Mountain high.)
Yikes!!!!
Nice
I've used that brand but not the "very hot". We like Grandpa Eddie's jerk sauce\marinade:
http://www.grandpaeddiesauce.com/
Blue Cave Castle '12, '13 '14 '15 '16 Catcha Falling Star '13 Boardwalk Village '14 '15
Authentic jerk is made from a dry rub. Marinades and sauces are modern day inventions. This rub recipe is the one I got from a cook in Boston Bay in 1982 - my first trip to Jamaica. It's never been changed.
Boca Boys Jerk Rub Recipe - use this on anything you want to jerk, even fish!
4 tablespoons Ground allspice
4 tablespoons Dried thyme
4 tablespoons Ground Scotch Bonnet Pepper
2 tablespoons Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Ground sage
1 tablespoon Ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon Ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons Garlic powder
4 tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 cup dried Chives
Ricky Ginsburg
Fort Collins, Colorado
(Where it's always a Rocky Mountain high.)
Do you use 4 Tablespoons of that "Very Hot" Scotch Bonnet Pepper? or do you turn it down a bit because of it.
4 tablespoons is half a bottle (plus or minus). When I cook for myself and a specific group of friends, I use a whole bottle.
Ricky Ginsburg
Fort Collins, Colorado
(Where it's always a Rocky Mountain high.)
Eddie also has a dry rub but its not available on his website for some reason. We get it from him at a local wine festival he has a stand at.
Unless my history is wrong I believe a wet jerk marinade was used before dry rubs. The history of jerk goes back to the Maroons and even much further so we need to be careful when using words like traditional or authentic. Also the term jerk is more often associated with a method of cooking and not the spices used. If the jerk isn't slow cooked over pimento wood its not really considered jerk in some culinary circles. Is it the spice or the cooking method that makes it jerk? That seems to be up for debate.
On a side note I once watched a video of someone making "traditional" Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken. One of their required ingredients for "traditional" brown stew chicken was MSG. Something makes me believe that MSG was not used in the original dish. This makes me wonder how much MSG is in the food we are eating in Jamaica. The way the grocery stores have it stocked it seems to be a popular.
Last edited by Kevin, PA; 05-28-2015 at 04:28 PM.
Blue Cave Castle '12, '13 '14 '15 '16 Catcha Falling Star '13 Boardwalk Village '14 '15
The bulk of the history I've read and been told over the past 33 years indicates that dry spices were used to preserve the meat and the crushed peppers kept animals and bugs at bay. The traditional cooking technique DOES involve "sweet wood" which is the wood from the pimento or allspice tree. I have a very large one growing in my garden that I use for flavor when I smoke either jerk chicken or jerk pork.
On a side note, the use of Red Stripe is neither traditional or authentic and does nothing to enhance the flavor of the finished meat.
Ricky Ginsburg
Fort Collins, Colorado
(Where it's always a Rocky Mountain high.)
How does one get a hold of your "key" ingredient? Internet? I have been using Island Gourmet brand Jamaican Marinade for years, but you have to buy 3 cases at a time. It was the closest I could get to a jerk stand we went to back in the 80's called "DaBuss" or "DeBus" It was the best I have ever had. Period.
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