One of the most popular forms of Caribbean cooking is jerk food. Jerk cuisine, like most cuisines throughout the Caribbean is a mixture of native cooking and foreign influences such as Asian, African, European and East Indian. The process of cooking food slowly in pits was brought to the islands by the African slaves.
Jerk mixtures can be either wet pastes or marinades or dry rubs.
They are spicy and delicious combinations of ingredients such as ginger, tamarind, nutmeg, thyme, green onions, allspice berries and Scotch bonnet chiles. Meat, poultry and fish are coated with the jerk seasoning and marinated for several hours and up to two days. The meat is then cooked in a pit, smoker or barbecue grill. The secret is to cook it very slowly. The author suggests stuffing it under the skin of a turkey breast, or chicken, or on fish.