Wet jerk seasoning

Overview

Wet jerk seasoning is the paste form of Jamaican jerk. Allspice (pimento) and Scotch bonnet pepper carry the flavour, with thyme, scallion, garlic and ginger giving the aromatic base. The paste is loosened with soy sauce, oil, vinegar and lime, so it clings to meat and can be rubbed in.

The paste is a marinade and a cooking base. It is not the jerk cooking method itself, which is a way of slow-cooking meat over pimento wood, and it is not the sweet bottled jerk barbecue sauces, which are a separate product.

Origins of jerk

Jerk is a Jamaican cooking style. The general account traces it to the Taíno, whose use of native hot peppers and pimento to season meat is recorded in a 1516 account, and it holds that Maroon communities who joined and intermarried with the Taíno developed the sauce, cooking wild hogs over pimento wood. The term jerk is said to derive from the Spanish word for dried meat, charqui, which comes from Quechua.

These origin stories are attributions in general accounts, not evidence for this paste. The earliest dated record concerns the seasoning of meat with peppers and pimento, and no dated source describes the wet paste in these exact proportions.

Ingredients and their roles

Allspice is the central spice. It is ground from whole berries just before use, and the recipe grinds it in a coffee grinder rather than using a pre-ground powder. Scotch bonnet supplies the heat, and the recipe uses fresh thyme, scallion, onion, garlic and ginger for the aromatic base.

Soy sauce and red wine vinegar add salt and acid, and olive oil carries the spices onto the meat. Brown sugar and lime juice are included in the recipe, and nutmeg and cinnamon add warmth. The page gives no alternative to thyme, and this record does not offer one.

Method

Blend the liquids first so the paste moves freely, then add the spices and herbs and pulse until it reaches a thick paste with some texture. The author adds about a tablespoon of water only when the blender needs help. The paste is tasted before it touches raw meat, which allows the seasoning to be corrected while it is still separate from the meat.

The meat is massaged with the paste, covered and refrigerated. Chicken, pork and tofu take at least four hours, and overnight is recommended for the most flavour. Shrimp need no more than about 30 minutes, because the acid in the marinade can make the shrimp soft.

Use and storage

Jerk paste is used as a marinade and rub for meat, fish and tofu, and the general account says it is also added to other dishes. The page gives no storage guidance for the finished paste or for leftovers, and this record does not add a limit.