Serious Eats: Recipes
Cook the Book: Jerk Pork
Photograph: Comida con Pablo
What's the first image that pops into your head when you think about Jamaica? Bob Marley? White sandy beaches? A certain smokable substance? Perhaps a steel drum band? Or maybe, if your mind tends to jump to more food-related images, a smokey grill filled with jerk chicken and pork coated in that super spiced Jamaican seasoning that tastes like nothing else.
I usually reserve my jerk eating for Caribbean takeout, but this recipe for Jerk Pork from Steven Raichlen's Planet Barbecue! was a perfect excuse to try it out on the home grill. Before attempting Raichlen's jerk sauce I must advise implementing a pair of rubber gloves, and no, I am not being a baby. The pound of Scotch bonnets this recipe calls for is lethal once stemmed and sliced, and even with protected hands the smell is enough to send you into a sneezing fit. But once combined with the rest of the aromatics (thyme, basil, scallions, onions, garlic, and a handful of warm spices) and left to grill over a low flame, the heat magically dissipates. The butterflied pork shoulder takes on some of the heat, but in a way that has nothing to do with the mouth scorching heat of the raw Scotch bonnets.
After a solid hour on the grill the pork becomes dark and crusty and the inside moist and succulent, flavored through with the complex jerk seasoning. All that's left to to is let it cool slightly and hack it up into bite-sized pieces. According to Raichlen, jerk pork is typically eaten off of wax paper with your fingers, but I served mine with peas and rice and a few fried plantains.
As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of Planet Barbecue! to give away this week.