Jerk Seasoning and Jerk Pork or Chicken, or, Why I Miss Jamaica

It is a seasoning, a way of cooking, and results in a delicious gravy, but it is not a sauce.

It is a process.When done right it is absolutely delicious. It is difficult to recreate in a kitchen, but I have done it many times and I will explain how I do it below.

First, I must credit the seasoning to a Jerk Master who works in Jamaica. The first bite I ever had of this jerk chicken, I was on the beach, with your dad, and after a day of swimming, this was the perfect thing. I just love that your father can handle his pepper.

This Jerk Master would hook us up and cover the chicken with gravy. I used to buy seasoning from him every time I went to visit, but no one knows where he is anymore. This is his recipe, and while I guard it, I share it with those who will do it justice. So to my babies, I hope one day you will enjoy the spicier side of life and try to make this for those you love. Maybe this is TMI, but jerk anything is a key to the heart. Use this to make anyone fall in love with you.

Here is the seasoning and recipe. Tread carefully. Seriously. Put on some gloves or something. You don't want to touch your eyes after making this.

I believe this is the guy who made the best jerk, and these are the barrels he cooked on.

Jerk Seasoning 

Garlic		1 head / 12 cloves
Onion		3 medium, diced
Green Onion		4 stalks
Scotch Bonnet		6-8 peppers
Ginger (fresh)		1 knob (2")
Soy Sauce		1/4 cup
Brown Sugar		1/4 cup
Thyme		10 stalks (strip the leaves)
Canola Oil		1/4 cup
Caramel/Browning (Grace)		2 tbsp
Allspice		8 berries (freshly ground)
Black Pepper		2 tbsp (freshly ground)
Cinnamon		1/2 tsp (freshly ground)
Nutmeg (allergy optional!)		1/2 tsp (freshly ground)

Jerk Seasoning Preparation:

1. Roughly chop all the ingredients for the seasoning.
2. Throw all the ingredients to a blender. If your blender is not glass, it will hold the scent and flavour of these ingredients. Also, a food processor will do just fine if that's what you prefer.
3. In a saucepan, cook down the mixture on a very low simmer for about 40 minutes to an hour. 
4. Continuously check and stir, make sure it hasn't scorched. Once scorched, you cannot recover and it will always taste 'burned'.
5. Jar the excess and keep in the fridge. You will use it up before it can ever go bad, but in the fridge it should keep for about a year.

Jerk Recipe (Pork or Chicken) Preparation:

1. Wash all your meat (I use pork shoulder, most people use chicken).
2. Pat the meat dry and take out the days aggression by stabbing it repeatedly. This is what makes jerk jerk. You are creating pockets for deliciousness.
3. In a produce bag, place the meat and the seasoning. For each pound of meat I add one cup of seasoning.
4. Remove the air and tie the bag, massaging the seasoning into the meat so that it is entirely coated.
5. Rest the meat in the fridge. Overnight is preferred, but a few hours will do. You will be happy if you give it the full day to marinate. 
6. Let the meat come to room temperature before cooking. If it is summer and you can grill outside, this is the best and most authentic way to enjoy! 
7. If it is winter, raining, or you are not in the mood for outdoor grilling, do this in the oven. Set the oven for 330 (pork shoulder) or 370 (chicken or fish).
8. Put the meat in a roasting dish and in the oven, 2 hours for the pork shoulder and 45 minutes for the chicken.
9. For the pork shoulder, after 2 hours, crank the heat up to 380 for another 20-30 minutes until the meat starts to colour nicely.
10. Take the meat out and test for doneness... let it rest to redistribute the juices. This should be about 15 minutes.
11. Slice before serving. Some like it on rice or with hard dough bread, but I eat it just so! Oh, and you can thicken the cooking liquid (be sure to drain off the fat!) to serve as the gravy.
12. I recommend a cold beer. Red Stripe if you can get it. Enjoy!

Green Onion Oil

Addictive.
Try this with steamed chicken or fish. Or cardboard. Anything really. This is the only oil I drizzle without pause.

When I had my first job I went to a restaurant every couple weeks at Elizabeth and Dundas called "Garden". They have a bowl of soup; Beef brisket and bok choi over rice noodles. It is delicious. But then they have an oil based condiment with green onions. And when I added that, the dish was heavenly. I've since seen it served with roast pork or roast duck. I've tried to recreate it to no avail. And then, one day, my sister did what I never did. She ASKED "what goes into this?" and they actually told her. So armed with the recipe, I made it. And it goes like this:

YUM.

Green Seasoning 

Green Onion		8 stalks
Ginger (fresh)		1 knob (2")
Garlic		8 cloves
Canola Oil		1 cup
Sea Salt		1 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Chop the green onion, mince the garlic and grate the ginger.
2. Heat the oil in a small skillet on medium heat.
3. When oil is warm enough that it is visibly viscous, add all the ingredients.
4. Stir occasionally for 10 minutes.
5. Never let the oil come to a boil. Reduce heat if necessary.
6. Remove skillet from heat and allow the mixture to cool.
7. Spoon over (as I said above) any dish of meat or fish.
8. Jar the rest of the mixture to reuse for 2-3 weeks.

Fry Shark

My darling children,

So Alexis, in true form to how we raised you, you will not say you do not like a food until you have managed one bite, and you have decided shark is not for you. You cannot understand how devastating this is to me. This is the greatest of beach side foods that I was hoping you would join me in loving. At least, as we both agreed, the shark had no chance to bite you, you bit the shark. Alistair, I'll have to feed you some flavour neutral fish before you can tackle the almighty shark. I'll prepare it again when you are old enough to form an opinion on its taste. So in the event that the flavour is something you both will grow into over time (I hope), here is the recipe for that weird fish mamma used to make.

It is not typically Guyanese, but since having bake and shark at Richards in Maracas Bay (thank you Paula/Natalie/Mikes) it is a food that evokes strong memories and elicits strong feelings that cannot be recreated elsewhere. A mix of swimming, jumping waves and general beach exhaustion under the sun generates a hunger which can only be satiated by the one perfect food. I know I cannot recreate the experience. In fact, I do not fry bake at home and will only pan fry fish. But I have no problem frying up some shark, which is a little different than Banga Mary thanks to green seasoning, making it a decisively Trini dish. I will publish the green seasoning recipe for you both, but that will come later. For now, my take on preparing shark, including the butchery, is based on the original from Caribbean Pot.  His video on the coleslaw is a great accompaniment which appears in the images below.



Green Seasoning 

Green Onion		6 stalks
Bandanya		6 bunches
Garlic		8 cloves
Scotch Bonnet		1 (optional when you have babies)
Lime		1, juiced
Canola Oil		1/4 cup
Black Pepper		1 tbsp (ground)
Sea Salt		1 tbsp (ground)

Breading Flour 

White Flour		1/2 cup
Black Pepper		1 tbsp (ground)
Sea Salt		1 tsp (ground)

Shark

Shark Fillets		6
Canola Oil		for pan frying

Preparation:

1. Buy the fillets or butcher the steaks as shown in the Caribbean Pot video
2. Wash shark in lemon and salt solution, rinse well and pat dry
3. In a food processor, add all ingredients for green seasoning and blend 
4. In a bowl, add green seasoning and shark. My rule of thumb is at least two tablespoons per steak.
5. Let shark marinate for at least two hours, covered
6. Pour breading flour ingredients into a shallow glass dish. Square will work best, because you can shake the four down easily between steaks. Stir until it is well mixed
7. Pour enough oil into a saute pan to pan fry
8. Turn heat up to medium high
9. Test oil with flour. If it fries, it is ready to cook
10. Toss steak in flour and place in pan. Do not touch it once it is down! Let it fry for at least four minutes. With a good pan and the right heat, the steak should come up easily when it is ready to flip. Never force it or you will lose the crust (and worst case, the shark) to the pan.
11. Once flipped, it should take less than the time it took on the first side. check with the tongs to test the give from the pan. It will let you know when it is ready.
12. Remove from the pan and let it drain on a paper towel covered drain rack.
13. If you are going to eat it as a sandwich, make your bakes and fixings, and don't forget the coleslaw.

Shark (peppersauce on top) with coleslaw on the side

My Japanese Pantry

I've wanted to create a japanese dish, but staying away from sushi, which I rely on a restaurant to procure the best product for me. Then I saw Alton Brown break it down in his usual 'it's so damn simple!' manner, and I was hooked. I'm making Miso. But he also went over some staples that I want to capture here. Having these items in your pantry (save the tofu - to the fridge with you!) can be a lifesaver.

Kombu:
A dried seaweed with a dried starchy dust that is white and chalky against the dark seaweed. You need to soak it to use, or if in a soup, you need to simmer to get the flavour out. High on the 'umami' scale. Typically the firm seaweed found in miso soup. Oftenm marked as 'dried kelp' in the plastic packaging.








Bonito:
Flakes shaved off the smoked and dried SkipJack Tuna. Used (usually) in making broths.







Soba Noodles:
You can purchase dried and prepackaged, but nothing beats the freshly made noodles.

Miso White:
Subtle sweetness, used in desserts.

Miso Dark:
Used in braising meats (pork, beef).

Awase Miso:
Versatile, a balanced blend of the white and dark. Used in cooking with vegetables.

Mirin:
A sweetish cooking vinegar.


Dashi: the ubiquitous Japanese base stock.
To make a Dashi:
Cut the kombu into thirds
Soak 1 sheet of Kombu for 30 minutes in a pot of water and then simmer (med/med-hi) for 30 minutes. Remove Kombu.
Add 2 cups of bonito flakes. Bring to a simmer for 30 minutes ( 150 degrees).
Strain liquid.

MISO SOUP:
In a mixing bowl, add
6 tbsp Red Miso
2 tbsp white
Add 1 ladel full of Dashi and mix until miso is completely dissolved
Return Miso mixture to Dashi pot
(do not boil!) but heat on low-med
Add silken tofu (pressed of excess liquid)
Add 4 chopped green onions

Fish Glaze:
2 tbsp White Tofu
2 tbsp Honey
475, 15-20 mins

Tsuyu Sauce: (for Soba noodles)
1 cup dashi
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup soy sauce

Red Velvet Dreams

Have you ever had a food that transports you to a place you've never been? I'm not talking metaphysically, I mean a real place in this world, maybe in whatever era your context of it exists, but nonetheless, it exists. If you were so inclined, you could hop on a plane and be there within a day. But the experience of it may level your expectations. This is what I feel when I indulge in the wonder that is red velvet cake.

My friend and fellow bridesmaid, Aniesa, whipped up a batch of her red velvet cupcakes for our friend's bridal shower. I watched guests peruse the dessert table (I was strategically posted there for most of the event), and the reactions were varied. Some were squeemish at trying something new, something they didn't know, and others enjoyed, but seemed embarrassed to go for a second. Others wanted nothing more than some traditional West Indian desserts, while others (like myself, usually) ate no dessert at all.

Mind you, we live in the north. Most people in this city have never heard of the stuff. Which, we (including the bride) were more than happy for because it meant more for us. And in an age where you can educate yourself on most anything you could want, many people couldn't be bothered. Hell, if I didn't blog the way I did, and meet people from around the globe, I too would never have known of Red Velvet Cake.

Mmmm.... the sight of it, the taste of it, the texture of it, takes me to an afternoon garden party in the deep south, where just the slightest breeze lets you know evening is coming. The rich sweetness crawls in tendrils around your brain. Each sweet cloud is a reflection of all things the south has always striven to be. And though I've been to the southern states, I've never in my life been in a place like this. Though that's where it takes me. And that's worth the calories now and again.