When you think of Jamaica, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Besides beautiful beaches and vacation spots, Jamaica offers amazing food and culture. One of their most popular imports is the method of jerk, which can be applied to everything from seafood to meat. It produces the most succulent and tender meat, not to mention hot and spicy! You'll find jerk stands throughout the Caribbean—as it's practically their form of fast food. That's the best part about jerk—once you've made the rub and marinated the meat overnight, it's ready for grilling. There couldn't be an easier dish for feeding a ravenous crowd this upcoming Memorial day weekend.
Barbecuing is synonymous with Memorial day as well as jerk. Traditionally it's either smoked in open pits or barbecued in steel drum grills. Here in the States, where jerk has been popular for many years, it's either oven-roasted or grilled over charcoal or gas. What sets jerk apart from any other type of barbecue is its particular blend of spices, including the essential allspice, which is called pimento in Jamaica. There they not only grind the dried berries for the jerk rub, but they also use the pimento wood and leaves for smoking the meat. The next most important ingredient is Scotch bonnet pepper. As you can imagine it provides a lot of heat. Jerk wouldn't be jerk without some form of heat, making you sweat and cool down in a hot Caribbean climate.
More than twenty years ago, when my Auntie Elinor was living in Riverside, Illinois, she began sending me the special holiday cookbook that her local
newspaper published. It was packed with all kinds of recipes that
readers had shared. I always loved reading through its pages.
The American media warns us at every turn that Christmas is a time of over-indulgence. Women’s magazines sprout articles about how to avoid the buffet table, not to mention an extra ten pounds. Readers flip quickly past that article to the one depicting how to decorate a sugar cookie.
With the holidays near -- er, here -- holiday party season is in full swing. We're sure you've already labored over festive meals and decadent desserts to serve to your loved ones when entertaining at home. If you're still hosting, for New Year's Eve, perhaps, you deserve to take a break. Or at least appear to in front of your guests.