Mention Jamaica and foreigners think Bob Marley, reggae music and jerk cooking.
Jerk cooking is done when a charcoal fire is made in a pit in the ground and small planks of green aromatic pimento wood are placed on top of the hot coals to form a crude grill. The highly seasoned meat is stretched across this wooden grill in large slabs covered with a top layer of wood and left to cook slowly.
The "real" jerk taste comes from a combination of the blend of seasonings used, the effect of the smoke created by the twin layers of green pimento wood and slow method of cooking.
