Dry jerk rub
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Rub
- 40 g ground allspice, the backbone, and it should outweigh everything else rounded
- 25 g fine salt rounded
- 20 g dried thyme, the second most Jamaican thing in the jar rounded
- 18 g dark brown sugar rounded
- 15 g onion granules rounded
- 12 g garlic granules rounded
- 12 g cayenne, or scotch bonnet powder if you can find it, at half the weight rounded
- 8 g coarse black pepper rounded
- 6 g ground cinnamon rounded
- 5 g ground nutmeg rounded
- 5 g ground ginger rounded
Method
Method
- Mix it and store it dark. Ground allspice loses its volatile oils quickly in light.
- Rub it on generously and leave it at least four hours, overnight for chicken pieces or pork shoulder.
- Cook at or below 160°C, or grill over indirect heat, turning often.
Dry jerk against wet jerk
They are not the same seasoning in two textures, and it is worth knowing which you want.
| Dry jerk, this jar | Wet jerk paste | |
|---|---|---|
| Built on | ground allspice and dried thyme | fresh scotch bonnet, spring onion, ginger |
| Heat | steady and warm | sharper and fruitier |
| Keeps | six months in a jar | about a week in the fridge |
| Best on | anything, including vegetables and rice | chicken and pork, marinated overnight |
| Effort | five minutes, once | a blender and a shopping trip |
The dry version trades the fresh fruity heat of a scotch bonnet for convenience and shelf life. For a proper jerk chicken, use the wet paste. For a Tuesday, use this.
Notes
- Allspice is the whole identity. It is one berry, not a mixture, despite the name, and it tastes of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg at once. Pimento is the Jamaican name for it, and jerk without it is just spicy chicken.
- Buy it whole and grind it if you can. Pre-ground allspice fades within months and is the single ingredient here worth the extra effort.
- The cinnamon and nutmeg are deliberately small. They support the allspice rather than competing with it, and doubling them makes the jar taste like a Christmas biscuit.
- It is excellent on sweet potato, on pumpkin and stirred through rice and peas, so it is not only a meat rub.
Ingredient substitutions
- Scotch bonnet powder is the authentic heat and is fruity as well as hot. Habanero powder is the closest widely available thing. Cayenne is hotter per gram and flatter in flavour, which is why the quantity here is written for cayenne.
- Ground allspice is gemahlener Piment in Germany and is easy to find. Whole berries are Pimentkörner.