Sexual innuendos aside, this is a labour-intensive yet very satisfying grill project. I did it for the first time last year for our annual Father’s Day bust-up (aside: Father’s day is in June, Cathie’s dad and my dad both have the same birthday, June 26, and my birthday is July 6, so we usually just get together sometime in late June/early July and celebrate everything at once). It worked out well enough last year that I decided to make it a tradition because, really, I don’t get many chances to grill huge slabs of meat for a large crowd.
preparation
Prep work started on Saturday afternoon. A lot goes into jerk pork, not the least of which is a 7-9 pound shoulder ham. I picked one up at Rocky’s Meats on Hastings Street in Burnaby. The ham was actually cut and retied as a roast, so the thickness varied, but I made it work. Ideally, you get it bone-in, and have them cut and flatten the ham a bit better, but I made it work.
Then there’s an arm’s length of dry and wet ingredients that need to be processed into a paste and spread over the meat. It ends up looking pretty gross, but it smells great. Here’s a partial list of ingredients (email me if you want the whole recipe):
- 2 bunches green onions
- 1/4 cilantro
- 1/4 Italian parsley
- 6 big cloves of garlic
- 1 medium white onion
- 3-8 scotch bonnets (I substituted about 12 hot chilis)
- rum
- soy sauce
- vinegar
- allspice
- nutmeg
- cinnamon
- marjoram
- thyme
I used a food processor to blend everything together. Then I “jerked” the pork — which is believed to be derived from the word jook, meaning “poke a bunch of holes in the meat with a sharp stick.” I chose to use a knife instead of a stick.
I spread the paste over the meat, working it into the holes with my fingers. I probably don’t have to tell you that, after handling a paste made up primarily of onions, garlic and chili peppers, you don’t want to be touching your eyes. In fact if you have sensitive skin you may want to wear rubber gloves.
I let the meat soak overnight, turning once. Here are a couple of shots of the meat the next day, about an hour before it was time to throw it on the grill:
Here’s me flipping it one last time. Remember, no touchy de eyes:
All in all, you need to plan to prep this at least 24 hours in advance, more if you have to shop for ingredients.
cooking
I had also prepared some sliced sweet potatoes soaked in a honey-lime sauce, and I decided to grill them first. Then I moved them to a warming rack, and placed a smoker box filled with hickory chips and whole allspice berries over the flame. Once it started smoking I threw the meat on. Here’s how it looked when it first went on:
As it turns out, I did the potatoes a little early. They were starting to get a bit soft so I took them off and put them in the oven to stay warm. Here’s the meat after about 30 minutes:
A few action shots of me flipping and dealing with flare-ups. Keep in mind that for the most part, the lid was down and I was using medium heat:
The “grillmaster” at work:
A Dos Equis close at hand:
Here it is just about done:
Jerk pork should be cooked until there’s a nice crust on it, but I overcooked it a bit and ended up with it being a bit more charred than I wanted. I was kinda pissed about that, because I second-guessed myself, and left it on longer because my instant read thermometer said it wasn’t done, even though my gut was telling me it was done. So, it was a bit more black, crisp and dry in some places than I would have preferred.
serving
After an hour (should have been 45 minutes, see above) I took the meat off and let it rest for five minutes before carving. Then I sliced it all up, and served it with the sweet potatoes and some fresh tomatoes and cucumber. Here’s me slicing it all up:
Now, this was a 7-pound ham, and there were only 9 adults and one 7-year-old boy partaking of this feast. Here’s what was left:
Even that little scrap on the right eventually got eaten.
So, all-in-all it was a success, but I have to blame my grill again. This turned out much better last year, when I didn’t have as many hot spots. I really had to babysit this one, and I think it was smaller than last year, so there’s really no excuse for the excess carbon I forced upon my guests.
I also wasn’t a big fan of the sweet potatoes either. They looked cool, and they all disappeared, but I think I’d prefer some cuban rice instead. Rice is easier to deal with from a grilling perspective, because it was tough to do the large volume of meat and potatoes and have them both ready at the same time; there simply wasn’t enough space on the grill.
I wonder what’s for dinner this weekend?