Jerk on a Picnic

Ka Honu · November 14, 2012, 08:29:29 PM

No, this is not about that guy down the street eating his lunch in the park. I decided to play with a 10 pound picnic and some jerk seasoning. Scored the skin, injected some apple juice, lightly coated with molasses and then rubbed with Walkerswood Jerk Seasoning (Hot & Spicy). Wrapped in cling wrap and into the fridge for two days.

Racked over a drip pan and into the Bradley for four hours of cherry smoke.

Then finished in a 250^o oven to 165^o IT. Turned the oven up to 375^o toward the end to crisp up the skin a bit.

FTC for an hour and defatted the drippings. "Chunk-sliced" and served.

Came out pretty good but not what I had hoped. A lot of the "hot & spicy" from the jerk seasoning seemed to have been "cooked out" and the remaining flavor (which was very good) was concentrated in the drippings and on the surface of the meat - I had hoped for more penetration (I know, that's what she said). Anyway, I "re-seasoned" the sauce and enjoyed the result.

Lesson learned - for me, jerk recipes should be made with smaller cuts and smoke-grilled for a shorter time than a ten-pound chunk of meat requires.

JZ · November 14, 2012, 08:38:19 PM

Well you got me, ;) I was expecting a video of some jerk doing something stupid while on a picnic or interferring with someone else s picnic. Sorry to here it was not what you were looking for but glad it wasn't a bust. Everything new is a learning experience. Some are just better than others. ;D ;)

Habanero Smoker · November 15, 2012, 03:01:29 AM

Thanks for posting this. I need to make this, and thinking of making deep slits in the meat, and using a good turkey baster or my injector with a 3/8" slanted end needle to inject the jerk paste deep into the meat. I'm going to go with pecan, I have a slight reaction from the smoke given off by cherry bisquettes.

Ka Honu · November 15, 2012, 04:22:50 AM

Habs - The "deep treatment" should work work better, the only caveat being that I think that the long cooking process takes the heat out of the jerk. You can fix a lot of that by "freshening" the sauce/drippings at the end. It would be good pulled - better mix of sauce and meat.

Habanero Smoker · November 15, 2012, 01:37:15 PM

I'm hoping for sliced pork, but my backup plan will be to pull it. I'll make sure I save some of the Walkerswood to refresh the sauce.

SouthernSmoked · November 15, 2012, 05:14:25 PM

Looks most Excellent!!!

viper125 · November 16, 2012, 08:22:52 AM

What about two injections. Cider for cooking and a jerk seasoned cider towards the end? So it don't have time to cook out. I learned a long time ago on my BBQ sauce that when crock potting meat for new years. I would have to almost double the heat to get what i wanted in the finished product. Or else refreshon the heat towards the end. But that really sounds good.

OldHoss · December 13, 2012, 02:43:22 PM

I missed this when it originally came up. H.S. is correct in writing that true Jamaican Jerk Pork would be sliced.....about an inch wide as I recall. The places I was at did the pigs in half, removed all the bones, sliced the meat in 1 inch strips, marinated and then cooked skin side down. I asked at the one place and the fella said the pork was cooked for 3.5 hours. A zinc sheet was placed over the meat to hold the heat and smoke in. That time is still pretty low for pig cooked attached to the skin. So I am thinking the actual temperature at meat level would be around 300f.....no??? I do know it tasted amazing. I also know all my attempts at replicating it have failed big time.

jjmoney · December 30, 2012, 07:32:52 PM

Yeah that looks great but you're never going to get depth of flavor in a piece that big without serious injection and magic. Better to just smoke it on the plain side and then make a killer sauce (and add the drippings to the sauce). Go for a real jerk sauce like this one here http://www.jamaicatravelandculture.com/food_and_drink/jerk_chicken.htm

The fresh herbs, spices, and other stuff will taste much better than any commercial powder.

Or, as others have suggested, use a smaller nugget cut and grill or smoke grill to get a "deep" jerk flavor.

KyNola · December 30, 2012, 09:25:46 PM

Well, there ya go Paul. ;)

Habanero Smoker · December 31, 2012, 01:31:41 AM

Quote from: jjmoney on December 30, 2012, 07:32:52 PM
Yeah that looks great but you're never going to get depth of flavor in a piece that big without serious injection and magic. Better to just smoke it on the plain side and then make a killer sauce (and add the drippings to the sauce). Go for a real jerk sauce like this one here http://www.jamaicatravelandculture.com/food_and_drink/jerk_chicken.htm

The fresh herbs, spices, and other stuff will taste much better than any commercial powder.

Or, as others have suggested, use a smaller nugget cut and grill or smoke grill to get a "deep" jerk flavor.

Another project I haven't gotten around to yet.

I love Caribbean foods, especially the flavors of Jamaica. I go to that site occasionally, and have tried that jerk chicken recipe, and I have a few Jamaican cook books, though taste is a personal preference, I still haven't found any thing that I like better than Walkerswoods.

If you don't have an injector or the marinade is thick, the jerk method; making slits and poking the marinade into the meat with your fingers works great; especially for the thicker jerk pastes.

I almost forgot to mention, if you are forcing the marinade into slits with you fingers, wear gloves. :)