Cooking the Caribbean – Jerk Pork

It’s simple but expensive to buy pre-made jerk sauce, or jerk seasoning, in the supermarket. For this reason I thought it best to try making some, and it’s delicious. In fact, as one might expect, you get an awful lot more flavour if you make it yourself. However, this recipe isn’t for the soft-tongued, it packs a punch – a problem which can be avoided, at cost of tradition – I suppose – by adding less chilli. I loved this meal, but my girlfriend wasn’t quite sure – because of the heat issue. But don’t let that put you off!

Before I made this I didn’t realise allspice was actually a berry all of its own – the Pimenta berry. Indeed, do not confuse it with mixed spice, whatever you do! However, if you don’t have any, and wish to make the recipe even cheaper – because allspice is rather expensive – one can emulate the taste of allspice by mixing, in equal proportion, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. I’m not sure what the taste is like in comparison, because I haven’t tried this, but I assume it must be fairly similar.

Also, don’t you love the way the rice turns purple if you cook it with the black beans? I think it gives the dish added visual impact, which was something utterly accidental. It’s far more eye-catching than it would have been with plain ol’ white rice. To do this just follow the instructions about how to prepare the beans on the back of the packet, assuming you are using the dried variety, adding the rice roughly 15 minutes before the beans are cooked. Before that, I’d like to mention that this recipe works best in a slow cooker. I’ve enumerated the best slow cookers I could find online; you can check them out.

Jamaican Jerk Pork with Black-Bean Rice {recipe}

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 good sized steaks of pork

• 2 tsp ground allspice

• ¼ tsp nutmeg

• ½ tsp cinnamon

• 3 cloves of garlic, mashed

• 2 tsp chilli flakes, alter to taste

• Small bunch of fresh or dry thyme, finely chopped

• 2 tbsp oil, any sort

• 2 tsp muscovado sugar

• Salt and pepper, to taste

• 140g rice

• As many or as few black beans as you like, I suggest not going overboard

Method:

1. Mix together the allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, garlic, chilli, thyme, oil and sugar in a bowl.

2. Marinate the pork in the spice mixture for as long as possible, overnight would be nice but not essential.

3. Begin to prepare the beans and rice as per the above instructions.

4. Grill the marinated pork for around 4-5 minutes on either side, or until cooked. Don’t overcook it or it’ll become dry. Serve the pork on a bed of the rice and beans.

Cost: This should come to roughly £1.40-£1.50 per portion, much like the last pork dish. If you wish to be really frugal the above mix could probably stretch to four portions. Also, I’ve yet to try, but this would be simply amazing on a barbeque.