Unfortunately my jerk stew didn't come out the way I intended. It has some real heat and a smokey flavor, but not as much of a "jerk" taste as I would like. I'll have to play with it in the future to get it right. I was also planning on using okra to finish it, but the market didn't have any in frozen bags. I ended up using peas instead- which turned out to be better choice after all since the sweetness of the peas helped to add some color and mute the heat a bit.
Here's what I did:
Started out cooking some chopped onion and carrot in the cooking vessel with left over oil and seasoning from cooking the chicken breasts last night. Meanwhile, I added 6 habaneros, 1 bunch of green onions, some red wine vinegar (probably should have been malt), a couple of tablespoons of the jerk seasoning, some beer, and a little soy sauce to a food processor and blitzed it up.
Once the carrots and onions had softened, I added the pork which had marinated for about 24hrs along with the jerk wet sauce I made in the food processor.
One the pot was bubbling away, I capped it and stuck it into the oven set at 200F for a couple of hours:
I checked it at the 2hr mark to make sure everything was going ok and nothing was burning in the pan. The should was a long way from becoming tender, so capped the pot again, stuck it back in the oven and let it cook overnight. When I checked the pot in the morning, it had reduced far more than I intended and there was only a little bit of liquid left in the pot. I added a bag of frozen peas, and finished the stew off on the range.
There are a couple things I'd change for the future:
- Cooking the pork independently from the veggies. The shoulder takes a long time to get to pulling stage, and the dark color of the jerk sauce turns everything a deep brown. The carrots kept their orange color after about 2hrs of cooking, but lot it after being cooked overnight.
- I'd like to try it with okra and peas
- The spice mixture still didn't taste right- going to have to splice some recipes and see if I can find a better combination
Overall: I liked the heat (I was sweating), but I'll give it a 5. It needs an overhaul. Also, not a fan of everything in my apartment smelling like a Caribbean restaurant.
Pickled Collard Stems:
Another day in the fridge and the pickled collard stems finally have some nice flavor. If Lost Creek has more great collards this Saturday, I'm definitely picking up a few bunches.
Here's what I did:
Started out cooking some chopped onion and carrot in the cooking vessel with left over oil and seasoning from cooking the chicken breasts last night. Meanwhile, I added 6 habaneros, 1 bunch of green onions, some red wine vinegar (probably should have been malt), a couple of tablespoons of the jerk seasoning, some beer, and a little soy sauce to a food processor and blitzed it up.
Once the carrots and onions had softened, I added the pork which had marinated for about 24hrs along with the jerk wet sauce I made in the food processor.
One the pot was bubbling away, I capped it and stuck it into the oven set at 200F for a couple of hours:
I checked it at the 2hr mark to make sure everything was going ok and nothing was burning in the pan. The should was a long way from becoming tender, so capped the pot again, stuck it back in the oven and let it cook overnight. When I checked the pot in the morning, it had reduced far more than I intended and there was only a little bit of liquid left in the pot. I added a bag of frozen peas, and finished the stew off on the range.
There are a couple things I'd change for the future:
- Cooking the pork independently from the veggies. The shoulder takes a long time to get to pulling stage, and the dark color of the jerk sauce turns everything a deep brown. The carrots kept their orange color after about 2hrs of cooking, but lot it after being cooked overnight.
- I'd like to try it with okra and peas
- The spice mixture still didn't taste right- going to have to splice some recipes and see if I can find a better combination
Overall: I liked the heat (I was sweating), but I'll give it a 5. It needs an overhaul. Also, not a fan of everything in my apartment smelling like a Caribbean restaurant.
Pickled Collard Stems:
Another day in the fridge and the pickled collard stems finally have some nice flavor. If Lost Creek has more great collards this Saturday, I'm definitely picking up a few bunches.
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