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Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica, in which meat is Spice rub or wet-marinated with a hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice.
The technique of jerking (or cooking with jerk spice) originated from Jamaica's indigenous peoples, the Arawak and Taíno tribes, and was adopted by the descendants of 17th-century Jamaican Maroons who intermingled with them.
The smoky taste of jerked meat is achieved by using various cooking methods, including modern wood-burning ovens. Chicken or pork is usually jerked, and the main ingredients of the spicy jerk marinade / sauce are allspice and scotch bonnet peppers, which are native to Jamaica.
The term jerk spice (also known as Jamaican jerk spice) refers to a spice rub. The word "jerk" refers to the spice rub, a marinade and mop sauce made from it, and to the particular cooking technique.
The method of cooking in earth oven is speculated by some to have been used in order to avoid creating smoke which would have given away their location— though it is common throughout the world, and is best known in Hawaii, in the form of kālua-style imu, central to the luau, as well as, barbacoa in Mesoamerica.
Historians believe that the Taínos developed the style of cooking and seasoning used across the region. The method of jerking meats on native pimento wood also came from the Taíno term “barabicu” or barbacoa, which means “framework of sticks”, applied to a range of wooden structures, including a raised wooden grill for roasting and smoking foods. This Taíno technique is applied throughout the Americas, and many food historians agree that all forms of barbecue in the Americas are descendants of this cooking style.
While all racial groups hunted wild hogs in the Jamaican interior, and used the practice of jerking to cook them in the 17th century, by the end of the 18th century most groups had switched to imported pork products. Mainly the Maroons continued the practice of hunting wild hogs and jerking pork. Jamaican jerk sauce primarily developed by these Maroons, added flavour to wild hogs which were seasoned with herbs and allspice, and then slow cooked over pimento wood. The use of scotch bonnet is largely responsible for the heat found in Caribbean jerks. Over time the basic recipe has been modified as various cultures added their influence. Jerk cooking and seasoning have followed the Caribbean diaspora all over the world, and forms of jerk can now be found at restaurants almost anywhere a significant population of Caribbean descent exists— such as the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, coastal Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua and San Andrés. As such, Jamaican jerk has developed a global following, most notably in American, Canadian and Western European cosmopolitan urban centres. Poulet boucané (or 'smoked chicken'), a dish found in French Caribbean countries such as Martinique and Guadeloupe, is quite similar to traditional Jamaican jerk chicken.
Street-side "jerk stands" or "jerk centres" are frequently found in Jamaica and the nearby Cayman Islands, as well as, other places that experienced waves of Jamaican migration— like San Andrés. Jerked meat, usually chicken or pork, can be purchased along with hard dough bread, bammy (a native cassava flatbread), Jamaican fried (known as "Johnnycake" or journey cakes), and festival, a variation of sweet flavoured fried dumplings, served as a side dish.
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