A Top Jamaican Chef Shares His Jerk Marinade Recipe
A Flavorful Caribbean Secret.
Have you ever made a meal that tastes fine but feels like it could use a little more? Or perhaps the proteins in your meal felt off while everything else was fine. Sometimes, the difference between a good-tasting meal and a great-tasting one is the art of marinating, and Jamaican cuisine has that on lock with its use of jerk marinade.
Jamaican jerk marinade is a rich mixture filled with herbs, spices, and the hotness of scotch bonnet peppers. You can marinate your proteins like chicken, fish, or turkey in the mix, and it can also be used as a sauce or topping for your meals and snacks. One of our favourite ways to use it is in Chef Lumley’s Mussels and Clams Al Dente Linguine, which features 1 - 2 tablespoons of the marinade.
There are several variations of jerk marinade on the internet or supermarket shelves, as well as several homemade recipes. But here at The Beautiful Societies, we are all about spotlighting chefs with authentic recipes, so we had to go to Kingston, Jamaica, to speak to a leading Caribbean chef to bring you the best of the best in jerk marinade recipes.
Meet the Chef
Chef Brian Lumley is an award-winning executive chef who has etched his name among the finest culinarians in the Caribbean.
He founded 689 By Brian Lumley, which quickly rose to become one of Jamaica’s most beloved restaurants. He is also the youngest chef to be awarded the prestigious Chef of the Year title at the Taste of Jamaica competition, winning multiple medals at the Taste of the Caribbean competition and the Hans Schenk prize for the Most Innovative Use of Caribbean Ingredients.
Ingredients
Makes about 2 Liters
Dry Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Pimento seeds
1 Cup Fresh Thyme
3 oz Fresh Ginger
3 Whole Scotch Bonnet Pepper
2 Medium Onion, diced
2 Heads Garlic, peeled
8 Stalks Scallion
1 tsp. Cloves
2 tsp. Grated Nutmeg
1 tsp Cinnamon
3 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Salt
Liquid ingredients:
3 Tbsp Vegetable oil
1⁄2 Cup Dark soy sauce
1⁄2 Cup White cane Vinegar
1 Cup water
Instructions
Combine all the listed ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
This jerk marinade can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a month and in the freezer for three months.
Lumley’s Special Tips
My tips for people of other nationalities preparing jerk marinade would be to focus on the three main ingredients: pimento seeds, scallion, and scotch bonnet. Set the heat (spice level) to what you can manage to make it a more enjoyable experience