Jamaican Jerk Marinade - Fire And Spice

Jamaican jerk is more than a marinade—it’s a smoky, flame-grilled cooking style that uses the best ingredients of its home island.

- Korsha Wilson

Few Caribbean dishes are as well-traveled, or as beloved, as Jamaican jerk, a humble meal of bone-in chicken or pork parts doused in a blend of spices and hot peppers, and cooked slowly over smoldering pimento wood branches. Peppered across the island, roadside jerk stands entice passersby with wafts of fragrant smoke rising from makeshift grills encased in sheets of tin siding. Supple, juicy, and crispy in spots where the meat has been charred by the fire, jerk is an integral part of Jamaica’s economy too, with restaurants like the perpetually busy Scotchies or the relaxed Pepper’s Jerk Center serving tourists and locals year-round. It’s typically eaten with your hands alongside fried cornmeal “festivals” (dumplings), scorching- hot Scotch bonnet pepper sauce, and cold beer.