Jamaican jerk

Jamaican jerk, Jamaican jerk seasoning, Jamaican jerk recipe:

First Jamaican jerk is a seasoning consisting of:
• Scotch bonnet,
• allspice and
• thyme.

Start with fresh whole spices that you toast in a hot dry heavy skillet until they just start to give off a toasty aroma.  The next step in the preparation of Jamaican jerk is to remove the stems from the Scotch bonnets (and optionally the seeds and placenta - ribs).  The spices are then ground together in a spice blender (a clean coffee grinder or a regular blender).  Remember not to inhale any of the Jamaican jerk dust. 

The next step in the production of Jamaican jerk seasoning is to turn it into a paste.  Add any of the following:
• lime juice ****
• orange juice ***
•  rum *

in sufficient quantity to turn the Jamaican jerk seasoning into a paste thick enough to stick to the meat.  Do not over thin - it is not a marinade.  Think of Jamaican jerk as a moist dry rub.  In fact you need to rub the Jamaican jerk seasoning into the *scored* meat.

Coat your food of choice with the Jamaican jerk seasoning.  Chicken and pork are favorites.  But it works quite well with seafoods:  shrimp, scallops or any firm fleshed fish that is amenable to grilling.

Grill very slowly for several hours over a wood fire into which you have dropped whole allspice berries.  Do not stint.  Use a neutral hardwood such as oak.  Add well soaked oak chips to the fire for the necessary clouds of aromatic smoke.  (All of this is a substitute for grilling over allspice branches).  Of course, you are using standard indirect grilling methods with a drip pan under the grillee and the fire off to one side.

• This slow cook method is Jamaican jerk: the cooking method. 
• At the end of which you now have Jamaican jerk: the dish. 

Serve with plenty of beer and a whole milk yoghurt for emergency cooling.

Typical accompaniments include mango salsa, rice and black beans and sweet potatoes roasted over the same fire.