Traditional Jamaican Pork

Traditional Jamaican jerk pork is made on the grill until it is tender and tasty. The star of the show is the ingredients that give the jerk flavor. The pork butt traps in the sweet and spicy marinated spices, and the fat content gives the jerk pork more feeling than naturally basted meat. Long, slow cooking on low heat brings out the juices and makes for a tender, more delicious cut of meat.

Jerk Pork is spicy so we do not skimp on the zest.

Jerk is supposed to be spicy, so we do not skimp on the zest. The result is flavorful and juicy pork roast with a blackened crust. This rustic dish is not easy to cut pork from the bone inelegant, even strips. Instead, just cut the jerk pork into large chunks to serve.

This juicy, flavorful pork takes time a few hours to brine, overnight to marinate, and 7 or 8 hours to smoke. It’s mostly hands-off and well worth it. In Jamaica, this is street food that’s eaten with rice and peas, grilled corn, or fried cornbread called festival.

There are two ways to cook jerk. One way is a grill with pimento wood branches, which will get you closer to the authentic Jamaican jerk experience. The second method is in the oven. Since you won’t be getting any smoke in the oven method, toast the whole spices in a dry, heavy skillet until fragrant before adding them to the marinade they’ll lend the finished sauce an additional layer of complexity.