Make Dwight Smith's recipe for tender, juicy jerk pork

Jerk pork is a street food that’s popular across Jamaica and it’s always been a favourite of mine. For me, thyme, allspice and Scotch bonnet pepper are the perfect combination with the tender, juicy meat. While the dish is traditionally grilled, you can roast it in the oven and still keep a lot of the flavour. I like to serve it with hot pepper sauce, rice and peas and festival.

Ingredients

• 8 scallions
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp roughly chopped ginger
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1 Scotch bonnet pepper
• 8-10 allspice berries
• 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 tbsp browning sauce
• ¼ cup lime juice
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1.4 kg sliced pork belly
• 907 g boneless pork shoulder
• ½ cup jerk seasoning powder

Sauce:

• ¼ cup ketchup
• 2 tbsp Scotch bonnet pepper sauce

Preparation

Process scallions, garlic, ginger, thyme, Scotch bonnet, allspice, peppercorns, soy sauce, honey, browning, lime juice and salt in a food processor until finely chopped but still chunky, about 2 minutes.

Place pork on a large sheet pan and rub with jerk seasoning until the meat is evenly coated. Pour the marinade over the pork and massage with your hands until well-distributed. (We recommend using gloves for this as the marinade contains hot pepper.) Wrap the pork in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 48 hours. 

When ready to cook, heat oven to 400 F with a rack in the middle position.

Transfer pork to a rack set in a large roasting pan. Cover and cook for 40 to 45 minutes. Carefully remove the lid, and let the pork rest for 5 minutes.

To make the sauce, add the drippings from the roasting pan to a small bowl with the ketchup and pepper sauce and whisk until well-combined. Drizzle over the pork just before serving.

Serves 6 to 8

Produced in collaboration with CBC Creator Network.

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