Jerk paste

6 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 Onion; finely chopped
¼ teaspoon Ground nutmeg
½ cup Finely chopped scallions
½ teaspoon Ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons Fresh thyme leaves
6 Habanero chiles
2 teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Black pepper
1 teaspoon Allspice

Directions

Recipe by: romero@... (C. Antonio Romero) From: rec.food.cooking. Since there were numerous requests in my mailbox today for the jerk recipe, I thought I'd just go ahead and post it.

I started with recipes from "Jerk: Barbecue from Jamaica" by Helen Willinsky-- which seems to be a reasonable cookbook, though I haven't tried many of their recipes beyond the jerk marinades and jerk chicken. I've made some modifications of my own which I'll note as I go.

Jerk seasoning can be made two ways: one is a marinade, one is a paste (more authentic, sez Willinsky) Mix all ingredients to form a paste (use a food processor).

The recipe as I have been doing it lately uses dried habaneros (all I could find around here) and instead of the onion, a cup to a cup and a half of scallions including the bottom part (I think I used two bunches of six not-very-large scallions each; trim the little roots and the scraggly bit at the top of the stalk). Looks and smells just like the Jamaican Country Style jerk in the bottle. I also add a little soy sauce for color, and a generous shot of cream sherry-- seems to go well in the paste; I think the sweetness works well with the allspice.

Jalapenos cannot be substituted-- the result will be MILD, I kid you not (I learned this the hard way the first time I tried to make jerk chicken for guests and couldn't get habaneros).

Submitted to alt.creative-cook by Reggie Dwork. Shared on Delphi by Judi M. Phelps (Juphelps)

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