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| Curried Goat Mannish Water Jerk Chicken Ackee Fruits |
Jerk Chicken is a method of cooking that
dates back to the Carib and Arawak Indians that inhabited Jamaica before
the coming of Christopher Columbus. The Indians would capture an animal,
gut it, clean it and then place the meat in a deep pit lined with green
wood. This method of cooking would add flavor to the food when the wood
would begin to burn. Before the actual cooking, however, the meat was was
poked or rather, "jerked" with a sharp tool to put holes in the
meat and then the holes were stuffed with several different spices. The
most important ingredient stuffed in these holes would be pepper. The holes
also kept moisture in the meat as well, keeping it tender and juicy. This
form of cooking proved to be delicious and the tradition is still going
on in Jamaica to this day. Chicken is not the only meat that can be jerked. Another popular meat that is cooked in this style in Jamaica is pork, known simply as Jerk Pork. Jerk Chicken is extremely spicy and Jamaicans recommend that it should not be eaten by people who cannot handle "hotness" in their food. In Jamaica, the section of the island that is most famous for Jerk Chicken is Boston, Portland where the infamous Boston Jerk Chicken is made. Every year a massive festival called The Boston Jerk Festival takes place in the parish of Portland. Thousands of people gather together to compete in a contest to see who cooks the best Jerk Food. Delicious food is cooked, sold and eaten over a weekend in the summer and this time of year proves just how popular Jerk Food is in Jamaica. |