Love my spices. Hooked from the first curry I had at the Kashmir in Bradford age 15 (go round the corner from the main road, there’s a doorway leading down a flight of stairs. Formica tables, tin plates. Superb food).

I’ve done a few curries on the site already but a couple of weeks ago I was challenged to branch out.  Move away from Indian food and try something different.  The 2 Thai curries I made were excellent, then a fantastic Jambalaya (needed more salt, I forgot to salt the chicken when I pressure-cooked it).  This week, going for…

Jerk Pork.

To feed 6 people…

Ingredients:

• 3 lb. of boneless pork – whatever cut takes your fancy, nothing too fatty.

• 6 sliced scotch bonnet peppers.  Or a couple of Dorset Naga if you’re feeling brave/suicidal!
• 2 Tbsp. thyme
• 2 Tbsp. ground allspice
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 Medium onions
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. salt
• 2 Tsp. ground black pepper
• 125ml olive oil
• 125ml light soy sauce
• Juice of one lime
• 250ml orange juice (Or, in today’s case, apple juice. Guess which muppet forgot to check the fridge?)
• 250ml white wine vinegar (we used a mix of white wine and cider vinegar. Guess who ran out?)
• 1 Tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tsp nutmeg
• 1 Tsp ginger (or more if you’re using fresh)

Preparation

• Roughly chop the onions, garlic and peppers
• Blend all of the ingredients (excluding the pork) in a blender to make the jerk sauce.
• Cut the pork up in to smaller pieces.
• Use a fork to poke some holes in the pork pieces.
• Rub the sauce in to the meat, saving some for basting and dipping later.
• Leave the pork in the fridge to marinade overnight.

Cooking

1. Place the marinated pork on a baking tray lined with foil, cover with a loose sheet of foil.  Bake at 180C for an hour then uncover and cook for 45 minutes-1 hour.  You’re aiming for brown on the outside, soft and tender in the middle.  And try to finish off skin-side up if you’ve got skin, then it’ll crackle nicely under the grill.  Especially if you jack the heat right up for the last 10 minutes.

Serving

Pile onto a large plate and serve with bread rolls, salad, rice and beans, whatever takes your fancy!  If there’s any jerk sauce left over, you can use it as a dip.

Now amble over to the Recipe Shed and see what other spicy delights are being cooked up this week.