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Meat & Poultry

Jerk Pulled Pork Recipe.

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We’ll not be using the traditional method of making classic Jamaican jerk pork as I know how difficult it is to get pimento wood and during the winter months in temperate countries, your oven or slow cooker tends to be our best friend. We’ll take classic jerk spices and flavor ingredients and marinate the pork shoulder before slowing roasting it in the oven, until fork tender. Then we’ll toss it in your fav jerk BBQ sauce, for what I believe is the best pulled pork.

You’ll Need…

A teaspoon each of:
– ground ginger
– all spice
– cinnamon
– pimenton (hot smoky paprika)
– nutmeg
– salt (adjust to your liking)
– dry mustard
– crushed pepper flakes
– dehydrated onion
2 tablespoon brown sugar (light)

1 cup orange juice
2-4 scallions
6 sprigs fresh thyme
1 scotch bonnet pepper
* liquid smoke if you like that stuff

5-8 lbs pork (cheap cut)
1 1/2 – 2 cups jerk bbq sauce

Note: I used a cheap cut of pork, with a bone and skin/fat.

Put all the spices (dry rub) in a bowl and give it a mix with a spoon. Use the back of the spoon to gently crush everything to help release the true flavors. Wash and pat the piece of pork dry, then cover with the dry rub. Massage well, put in your oven proof dish and cover with tin foil. Allow this to marinate overnight in your fridge or at least a couple hours.

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As you oven comes up to temperature – 300F, take the pork out of the fridge to come back to room temperature. Pour in the orange juice, chopped scallions, thyme and scotch bonnet pepper. I used a whole pepper, including the seeds as jerk pork is supposed to be a bit spicy. but feel free to adjust to your own heat tolerance. You can add a bit of liquid smoke if you wish as well. Cover back with the tin foil and place it on the middle rack. Allow it to go for 3 hours.

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Remove the tin foil, baste it with some of the juices and back in the oven uncovered for another 2 hours. After the 5 hours of the slow cooking in the oven it should be fully cooked (falling apart and easy to shred). Remove the cooked pork from the baking dish and set aside to cool enough so you can easily handle it. Remove the stems of the thyme from the baking dish, add your favorite jerk bbq sauce and whisk together with the pan juices. Please reserve 1/3 of the resulting sauce and set aside for later.

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You can use two forks to shred the pork, but I much prefer using my fingers, so I can remove all the pieces of fat and skin (discard).

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Your oven should still be on. Mix the shredded jerk pork in the sauce and place back in the oven to heat through for another 10-15 minutes.

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The reserved sauce will be used to top your sandwiches! This jerk pulled pork will be packed with wicked island flavors, tender and overall moist from the way we finished it with a good dose of the sauce. I’m sure this will work great in a slow cooker or on your smoker/grill during the summer months (with a bit of tweaking).

Meat & Poultry

Candied Pork Tenderloins On The BBQ.

The past three recipes during this the official month of grilling on Caribbeanpot.com, we’ve done our cooking on a propane grill but today we’ll go old school and dust out the charcoal bbq for that extreme flavor you can only get by using coals. With just two steps and a few ingredients you’ll not only love how simple this candied pork tenderloins are to make, but you’ll be amazed at how juicy and packed with flavor they will be.

The first step is to marinate the pork tenderloins, then spark up the charcoal bbq and do your thing!

You’ll Need…

3lbs pork tenderloins
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoon brown sugar (golden)
2 sprigs thyme
2 seasoning peppers (pimento peppers)
1 teaspoon grated ginger

* I used dark soy sauce but if you’re concerned about the sodium level, you can certainly use a light soy. If you can’t source the seasoning peppers, you can use a 1/4 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper finely diced. You can also combine the seasoning peppers with scotch bonnet for a little Caribbean KICK!

Though there are only two steps in making these amazing candied pork tenderloins, it does require some patience. In a bowl combine the soy sauce, ginger, garlic and brown sugar, then place the (washed and dry) tenderloins in a zipper bag (get a strong one so it does not leak on you) and mix in all the ingredients. Seal the bag, give it a good massage then place it in a bowl in the fridge. I put it in a bowl so in the event of any leakage, there won’t be a mess in the fridge to clean up.

TIP! For extreme flavor allow this to marinate overnight, but you can also go with a couple hours if you’re pressed for time.

As you get your coals up to temperature I would recommend taking the pork out of the fridge, discard the marinade and allow it to come up to room temperature. The last thing you want to do is to put cold meat on a hot bbq.

Here is where you will now personalize the dish by the technique you use for grilling. I did the indirect method where I placed the tenderloins away from direct heat and allowed them to slowly cook for about 45 minutes. Since pork tenderloins are never uniform in shape, I always place the skinny end as far away from the direct heat as this end will ALWAYS cook faster and can dry-up on you.

Please note that due to the sugar as well as the soy sauce in the marinade it will take on color very fast, so try to cook over indirect heat. That said, the last 4-5 minutes of cooking I did place them directly over the heat to get a lovely color and for added flavor.

After you remove them off the bbq, it’s very important that you cover them with some tin foil and allow them to rest before slicing. This resting will redistribute the natural juices back into the meat and make for a more tender and juicy candied pork tenderloins.

Tip: You can add some apple wood to the coals for a lovely fruity smoke flavor which will compliment the pork very well. If you don’t have a charcoal grill, you can do your thing on a propane grill.

Before you go, don’t forget to check out the latest cooking videos, connect with me on twitter and join our community on facebook. oh yea! leave me a comment below – it’s appreciated.

Meat & Poultry

The Ultimate Oven Roasted Pork.

There’s nothing quite like the aroma of roasting meat in the oven, especially when you have that eager anticipation of  a lovely dinner. Though over the years I’ve modified this recipe from it’s original beginnings (our mom’s recipe) , it really one which I’m very proud and excited to share. As with the other recipes in the “ultimate” series, you’ll find that this roasted pork  will be an instant hit with your family and friends. And if by chance you have any left the following morning, don’t hesitate in making up a sandwich or two… you’ll be counting down the lunch hr at work.

 

You’ll Need..

4 lbs Pork *
1 cup orange juice
1 cup vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
thick slice of ginger (about 1-2 tablespoon)
2 cloves garlic
3 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 large onion
3 scallions
1 scotch bonnet pepper (no seeds)
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
10 pimento berries (allspice)
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Notes: Do try to get a piece of pork which is not overly lean. With some fat or marbling, you’ll have a much more tender and juicy roasted pork. If you want to control the heat, don’t include any of the seeds or white membrane surrounding the seeds from the scotch bonnet pepper. At first you may think this is overly spicy, but the other flavors we add will help balance things.. trust me!

First up we must make the marinade so we can infuse this lovely piece of pork with some wicked flavors. Give the scallion, thyme, onion, garlic, ginger and scotch bonnet pepper a rough chop, then place everything (except the pork) into a food processor (or blender) and puree for a minute or two. If you don’t have a blender or food processor, chop everything mentioned above very finely and mix in the other ingredients.

Wash and pat dry the pork, then place it in a deep bowl (or large zip lock bag) and pour the marinade over it. Give it a good toss, cover with plastic wrap and set in the fridge to marinate for a couple hours (at least).

Place the well seasoned pork into a roasting pan (with a cover)  and pour in all the marinade into the pan as well. Set your oven at 400F and place on the middle rack for 1 hour. After 1 hr, flip to the other side and go for another hour. Be sure to baste the pork as it roast with the marinade at the bottom of the pan.

After 2 hours, remove the lid and roast for another 15 minutes to give it some lovely colour and to reduce the gravy at the bottom of the pan. Remember to spoon some of that gravy over the pork as it roasts. I like my pork well done, but you can certainly tailor it to your liking. You’re looking for an internal temp of 160 F.

You would have noticed that I didn’t add any salt to this, that’s because I found that the soy sauce gave it all the salt I needed. But I’m sure you may want to add about a 1/2 teaspoon or so.. to your liking. The orange juice wasn’t fresh squeezed if you’re wondering. Cover and allow to rest about 15 minutes before slicing through. The gravy at the bottom of the pan will be outstanding, so don’t you dare toss that out. There’s enough here to feed between 5-7 people.

Before you go, don’t forget to check out the latest cooking videos, connect with me on twitter and join our community on facebook. oh yea! leave me a comment below – it’s appreciated.

I'm Chris

Welcome to my kitchen, where Caribbean flavor takes center stage. Since 2009, I've been sharing recipes, stories, and memories that celebrate the food I grew up with and the people who taught me how to cook.

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