Jamaica Villas - Jerk cooking - Dat by Pluto Shervington



Sell I a pound of dat ting der!



Lisa takes the staff out to lunch



OK, Jerk! No, I don´t mean OK, Jerk? I mean OK...Jerk. I´m not being rude I am merely addressing the topic of authentic Jamaican cuisine called "Jerk". I know, it's a bit of a dodgey name but hey! get some culture into your life.

The name "Jerk" comes from the Quechua native American language word, "charqui", as does "Jerky", the stuff John Wayne used to eat in them western films. The name "charqui" or "Jerky" means "dried meat" or meat that has been preserved by cutting it into thin strips and smoking it (No! not in a pipe! over a fire! God help me, this Blog entry is going to take all day.)

Nowadays though, "Jerk" means some plonker who is a complete idiot or the method of cooking used in Jamaica either over charcoal or in the kitchen but prepared using spices.

So, Jerk recipes, what makes them so different to other cuisines, like Indian, Thai or Chinese who all use spices in their food?.

The four key ingredients in Jerk cooking are Scotch bonnet peppers, allspice berries, scallions and thyme. "Scallions" are also known as Spring Onions, just in case you had never heard them called Scallions before.

Scotch Bonnet peppers are as hot as hell!!! Scotch Bonnet peppers are among the most intensely hot of all peppers, with a Scoville rating that starts out around 150,000 and can climb as high as 300,000 in some rare specimens.

If you want to know how hot that feels, consider this; The Jalepeño pepper that you have stuffed with cheese at every Tex-Mex food outlet ranks between 2,500 and 8000 on the Scovillescale, so, if you think that has a kick, imagine what 150 - 300,000 rating tastes like?

If you don´t like a burning hot mouth, stay clear of Jerk food, really, stay clear!!!

You can use whatever spices you like to make your Jerk recipe a bit different but the spices I mentioned are the four bedrocks of Jerk.

The meat of choice (Goat or Pork are firm favourites in Jamaica) is marinated for any length of time but 24hrs is a minimum, you need to get all those flaours into the meat.

Then cook the meat, if your using an oven, cook on a low heat and for a long time, this will make the meat fall off the bone. Otherwise, cook over a charcole BBQ, again, really slow and maybe add some wood chippings to give that extra flavour. Bob's your uncle!

That's it! Not rocket science now, is it? I´ve added a video for you to see how the professionals do it.

Dat! by Pluto Shervington

I couldn´t really rap on about Jamaican food without reference to one of the greatest influences on my youth; Music. OK, what's music got to do with eating food? Well, let me pull your coat on this one. Dat! (Yep, that's right, Dat!)

Now, in years passed (many, in my case) I had a little disco and used to play all sorts of music, mostly Pop music, for the punters but also Reggea and Trojan (Trojan was not a style or genre of music but a label) records in particular. There were many great tunes knocking about, such as Desmond Dekker's "The Israelites" but my favourite reggae tune of the time was a silly song by a guy called Pluto Shervington called "Dat"

"Dat" is a song about a Rastafarian called Ozzy who can´t decide if he want's to buy some Ganja (weed, pot, happy grass etc) or something nice to eat with his limited resources. Having decided he would like to fill his belly, he consults the butcher on the possibilities of his forthcoming meal.

Now, Ozzy, being a good Rasta, he doesn't want to go against his faith and eat Pork or shellfish, spies something called "Dat" and asks what it is?

"Dat" is actually Pork but to save everyones blushes, they change the name to "dat" Here are the full lyrics in Patois. (If you listen to the song you´ll understand the weird spelling, it's not me on the happy grass ;-)

Rasta Ozzy from up the hill
Decide to check on him grocery bill
And when him add up the things him need
He don't why him see if he buy little weed
Him hand upon his jaw, Lord
Reading I am just mediate
This time it's so hard Lord
I might not think about emigrate
I make up my mind Lord
I might as well go against my own faith
So I follow the market
I sight the butcher boy by the gate

(You want goat?)
No I might a kill I queen
(Try beef now?)
I no check if no grass a green
(What about fowl?)
What I know it's time for a change
(Mashed fish?)
Got children on that range
(How about the steak?)
Watch it now, me now sight the rate
(Try tripe boss?)
Hold me belly when I pull me pipe
(Alright what about the pork?)
Hush your mouth man, me brethren hear
Sell I upon a dat thing there

Then the butcher pull up a stool
Begin to question Ozzy how him so fool
What kind of something cook in a pot
From him born did never hear about that
Well what ya know master
Give I time make try explain
It's just like a flim show
To protect the humble we change the name
I would have feel so cute
If come and ask for some animal fat
I and I feel safer if we change the subject and call it Dat

(You want goat?)
No I might a kill I queen
(Take the beef then)
I no check if no grass a green
(What about fowl?)
What I know it's time for a change
(Take fish then)
Got children on that range
(Make good steak you know)
Watch it now, me now sight the rate
(Take the tripe then boss)
Hold me belly when I pull me pipe
(Force down the pork then)
Hush your mouth man, me brethren hear
Sell I upon a dat thing there

Ozzy pay off the butcher bill
Take him parcel and trode up the hill
Like a spy who do you think him meet?
Rasta Jeremiah from down the street
For guidance me brethren
Is what you have in that there bag?
Him kind of get frightened
And begin to hide it beneath him rag
That man no fear high Lord
If we go and begone here and take us off
Meanwhile light a fire
And where we eat us upon a DAT

(You want goat?)
No I might a kill I queen
(Take the beef then)
I no deal with grass a green
(What about fowl?)
What I know it's time for a change
(Eat Fish then)
Got children on that range
(The steak's good enough)
Watch it now, me now sight the rate
(What about the tripe then?)
Hold me belly when I pull me pipe
(Well take the pork man)
Hush your mouth man, me brethren hear
Sell I upon a dat thing there.

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