Jerk (cooking)

Not to be confused with Jerky.
Jamaican jerk chicken
Key ingredients in jerk cooking:
allspice
Allspice (dried unripe fruit of Pimenta dioica)
Scotch bonnet
Scotch bonnet chili peppers (cultivar of Capsicum chinense)

Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica, in which meat is dry-rubbed or wet-marinated with a hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice.

The art of jerking (or cooking with jerk spice) originated with indigenous peoples in Jamaica from the Arawak and Taíno tribes, and was carried forward by the descendants of 17th-century Jamaican Maroons who intermingled with them.[1][2]

The smoky taste of jerked meat is achieved using various cooking methods, including modern wood-burning ovens. The meat is normally chicken or pork, and the main ingredients of the spicy jerk marinade sauce are allspice[a] and Scotch bonnet peppers.[3] Jerk cooking is popular in Caribbean and West Indian diaspora communities throughout North America, Canada and the United Kingdom.

  1. ^ Siva, Michael (2018). After the Treaties: A Social, Economic and Demographic History of Maroon Society in Jamaica, 1739-1842 (PhD). University of Southampton. p. 235.
  2. ^ Carey, Bev (1997). The Maroon Story: The Authentic and Original History of the Maroons in the History of Jamaica 1490-1880. Kingston, Jamaica: Agouti Press. p. 67-75. ISBN 978-9766100285.
  3. ^ Oliver, Rochelle (July 20, 2018). "Jerk, Authentically Jamaican and Unapologetically Hot". The New York Times. Retrieved October 2, 2022.


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