Caribbean Jerk Pork
A cloudless sky, steel blue water and me with my girls on the beach is what “school’s out for summer” is all about.
On the first day, “school’s out” threatened everything from thunderstorms to hail “the size of golf balls” and tornadoes, so we made pancakes and went to the library. Day 2, yesterday, proved entirely satisfactory and we landed on Rosewood Beach sandwiched between the chilly Lake Michigan shores and a backdrop of shady woodland. It was warm and sunny, we ate a picnic, us girls were carefree. Job done.
As we headed home catching the requisite Chicagoland traffic, beach fatigue set in and hunger was an issue. Always halfway prepared, I tossed a packet of popcorn and some warm cherries (leftover from lunch) into the back of the car.
A soggy and sandy aftermath of a day at the beach was negated by the aroma of allspice and cinnamon from the Jerk pork shoulder I had left cooking low and slow all day. Some days are meant to be easy.
Mid way through our season as vendors at the Chicago Botanic Gardens farmers market I’m finding many ways to justify eating more pork, or to be more specific, boar meat. Faiths Farm raise organic happy animals, so I got in early this week and Kim set aside a piece of boar shoulder for my Caribbean Jerk Pork.
The third in our trio of recipes adapted from the Midwest Palliative & Hospice Care Center cookbook, was submitted by Fred and Sharon Markoff, of Fredhots. They served the jerk pork on hamburger buns with lettuce in their restaurant. A note: I used boar meat which I was able to slice. Regular pork shoulder will shred easily into pulled pork and you can use some of the juices in the bottom of your slow cooker to pour onto the meat. Top it with the salsa and aioli.
Prep Time: 5 minutes plus 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 8-10 hours LOW or 4-5 hours HIGH
Servings: 6
Ingredients
4 lb pork or boar shoulder (bone in) or 3lb bone out
3 tbsp jerk seasoning
1 yellow onion, sliced to 1″ thick rounds
2 stalks celery, chopped to 3″ pieces
Mango Salsa (or pick up a good one from your local store)
1 mango, peeled and diced
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup diced red pepper
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chiffonade mint leaves
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 jalapeno, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Mango Salsa courtesy of Emeril Lagasse
Jerk Aioli
1/2 cup mayonnaise or sour cream
2 tbsp hot sauce
Rub the pork with the jerk seasoning and set aside. You can do this the night before and refrigerate if you wish. Lay the pieces of onion and celery on the bottom of your slow cooker.
Lay the pork on top of the celery and onion.
Pour enough water around the meat to just cover the celery and onion. Cover with the lid and turn to LOW for 8 hours.
Prepare the salsa and jerk aioli. Once the pork is cooked, remove from the liquid and slice. Serve with the mango salsa and jerk aioli. I added sliced cucumber also.
Zen Moment
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
