Jerk marinade and jerk pork

I love to try foods from cultures of all kinds.  I fell in love with Jamaican food, growing up in Chicago.  There were tons of ethnic eateries and I found several Jamaican restaurants to frequent for good food and jerk chicken quickly became my favorite.

When I moved to Arizona, finding Jamaican food was next to impossible.  After living here for a few years I found a place with really good Jamaican food--but it is at least an hour drive in traffic each way.  I had to shake off my fear of trying it at home and dive right in.
I won't dare call this "authentic" because I know traditional jerk cooking typically requires cooking the meat on a grill over pimiento wood to flavor the meat and usually the meat is cooked slowly over several hours to add an intense flavor to the meat.


I will say this is a good non-traditional jerk and when I prepare this, along with sweet fried plantains and and steamed shredded cabbage and carrots, it transplants me to food bliss. 

My mother brought me this jerk seasoning from a local Chicago market.  I love how it adds that jerk flavor to the chicken and pork that I've used it on so many times.  I added the dry seasoning to my pork chops, following the recommendations on the packaging, to add so many teaspoons of seasoning per pound of meat.

If you are using a similar dry seasoning be sure to toss and coat the meat well.  If you don't have the dry seasoning, don't worry--keep reading.

 There is a kindergarten-easy recipe for a wet jerk marinade found here.  I guarantee you probably already have at least 10 of the 13 ingredients in your fridge or pantry already! I follow this recipe with the exception of using dried herbs instead of fresh and omitting the hot pepper.  I toss everything in a blender and blend for a few seconds.

Here's what you end up with when everything is all blended.  This can be stored for a later time or used to flavor chicken, pork, and a number of other meats.

I poured the marinade over my pork chops, covered, and refrigerated to allow the flavors to blend and work into the meat.  You can marinate the meat for an hour, but for the very best flavor, it's best to let it marinate overnight--trust me on this. 

Grill your pork (or chicken) until done.  The acidity of the vinegar tenderizes the meat and the flavor is amazing.  Now I regularly get a little jerk fix at home while giving my meat a more exotic flavor.   Simply delicious!