How to Jerk your Meat
As told to Lisa and Jamie by Kristin.
Back in the 90s when we lived on Aruba, Jamaica was a three and a half to four hour flight north, and the Cayman Islands were just a tad further. Both places were a food lover's paradise. Sidewalk food stands, selling all types of delicacies seemed to be everywhere. The ones called 'jerk centres' sold Jamaican barbecue.
These were meats, usually pork and chicken, seasoned with spices grown on the island. Ingredients such as Scotch bonnet peppers, brown sugar, cloves, cinnamon, scallions, thyme, garlic, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. The meat is either dry-rubbed or marinated with the hot spice mixture.
Jerk was originally developed by African slaves who merged with native tribes after they escaped into the mountains when the Brits took the Island from Spain about 365 years ago. Lacking resources the Maroons made use of what was available to them. They created the barbecue sauce from the local agriculture, and slowly cooked the marinaded meat over a smoky wood fire.
Kristin likes to marinade the meat in a pyrex baking pan in the icebox overnight. We use a lot of goat meat because we get it from home, flat cut beef brisket is a good substitute. But really any kind of meat can be 'jerked.' We use canola oil, and Appleton Rum, lots of folks like Meyer's Rum as well.
The smokiness comes from the wood chips being from Texas we use Mesquite, but some use Hickory. You need eight cups of chips, and they need to soak in warm water for at least thirty minutes prior to use. But you use 'em more than an hour apart so a four cup bowl will work to soak 'em.
We think that Dragon Stout is a good thick carmely Jamacian beer to pair with Jerk, Red Stripe is available almost everywhere. Carib is, well, it's a lot lighter if you want something lighter.
For the marinade, you need a cup of gold Jamaican rum, one quarter cup of vegetable oil, chopped yellow onion, three cloves of chopped garlic, two tablespoons of ground allspice, two teaspoons of ground ginger, and of dried thyme, a teaspoon each of kosher salt, ground cinnamon, and cayenne pepper, half of a teaspoon of ground cloves and ground nutmeg.
In a blender, blend the above mixture until it's smooth. It shouldn't take more than three minutes. You need a twelve by ten inch oven safe container. Take your five pounds of cubed goat meat, and roll the meat around in the marinade. Kristin pierces the meat with a fork to help the marinade penetrate. It needs to soak for at least half an hour, but we do it overnight in the icebox.
The whole process takes about six hours. Ten minutes to make the marinade, thirty minutes to soak the first four cups of chips, ninety minutes to smoke the meat, ninety minutes to grill the meat and another two hours for the second smoking. Then ten minutes for the meat to rest and ten to serve it.
While the meat is marianading, soak four cups of the wood chips. Drain them after a half hour, and spread them on a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil. You are going to make a smoking pouch. Cover the wood chips with a second sheet of foil and crimp the edges. Poke some holes in the pouch using a fork, and place the pouch on the lit side of grill, or close to the heating element in the oven.
You are trying to smoke the meat, so put your marinated meat on unlit side of grill, or as far away from the heating element of the oven as possible. You need to smoke your meat for ninety minutes at 250°. Then you carefully open the pouch. (So as to not to fill your oven with wood chips. Ask me how I know this.) Add the last four cups of drained wood chips to the pouch.
Now you grill your meat, for about ninety minutes, until a thermometer stuck in the meat reads 165°. Take the meat out of the pan and place it on some heavy-duty aluminum foil. Pour half of a cup of the pan drippings over the meat before covering it with another sheet of foil, and crimping the edges.
The foil pouch with the meat goes back to unlit side of grill, or a spot away from the heating element of the oven. You smoke the meat until a thermometer reads 195°, which should take 2 hours. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes.
We like to make soft tacos using flour tortillas, sliced radishes, halved cherry tomatoes and chopped onions, or you can eat it any way that you eat barbeque.
Now we have a nice deck with movable panels so we can sunbathe or barbecue naked. It's 81 degrees and 81% humidity at midnite. If you barbecue outside naked you should probably do it in the dark. You can use sunscreen but it tastes icky. Be sure to wear an apron, hot juices could leave a nasty burn.
Get nice solid deck furniture, you can't do a "Back Seat Driver" if that resin chair breaks under the second person's weight. Trust us, the "Lap Dance" position puts a lot of sideward stress on a chair, you want a solid one. To be safe you can do a "Lazy Wheelbarrow" until you get something sturdy. But you need a good substantial table if you want to do a "Washing Machine," or to just lift your lover up and eat them for dinner.
Remember, there are lots of really fun ways to burn those calories.
Lake Houston Texas - July 29, 2019