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Jerk is the one of the original flavor profiles of the barbacoa. Traditionally smoked over a pimiento wood fire the Peppers and Pineapple are a great acid bath to preserve and season the meats.

This Video covers the making of the Marinade.

Check out the older Videos at YouTube-TheBoucan_com

So, yeah, I give a Duck…

This is the real deal. Make this and you are ready to paddle your canoe out to the next European Ship that gets within sight. Sell the beef, or if you happen to have more men than they, keep your beef, and your new ship!

So now lets get to the meat of the matter, wood that is. In a ‘green leaning’ new age when people are looking to limit their ‘carbon footprint’ it is time to start looking back to move forward. We all know that the propane that fuels most backyard grills is a fossil fuel and bad for the environment at the least, and tasteless heat that is really about speed and convenience more than any sort of desired cooking medium. Charcoal is better, it has some taste, is one step in a very short carbon cycle, in that the trees that it comes from were just pulling carbon from the atmosphere in the last few years, and will be reabsorbed by the new plated trees we should all be planting wherever we can; BUT most charcoals on the market are more than just that, they are packaging and often gas furnace produced, so that combined with the fuel cost to get them to you makes them just about as bad for your carbon footprint as the propane you are replacing… just about is still not as bad, and does taste better, so some will choose that. But if you can find minimally processed LOCALLY produced charcoal, choose that.

Personally I LOVE wood pellets produced from locally sourced sawmills. The furniture is needed… the sawdust is great fuel, and imparts the great taste of real wood fire to all the foods you cook with it. Whenever you can wood that you cut yourself from trees that you have already replaced yourself it the BEST choice.
I have felled a few Oaks on some family property in South Carolina as well as helped a neighbor remove a storm blown Red Oak from their yard. My wood fired backyard Oven runs on that wood. I have new apple and pear trees happily absorbing the released carbon and feel good that the wood didn’t have to be processed other than me cutting and splitting it. Plus I loved seeing my teenage daughter splitting wood with her old dad, Knowing that once its good and dried by summer, the pizza we make will mean even more to her, since she really did work for it.

The church cookbook, The Joy of Cooking, Mom’s Index Cards, Newspaper clippings, and even Le Guide Culinaire are all just what some one has already done. But we do need a place to start. The trick is to see past the lists of measures and see the ratios and methods. I once had a chef who said that recipes were a dime a dozen, but technique was everything. While this may be true for some foods(entrées, salads, and sides) this is not the case for baking. The science of baking was so daunting for me as a chef, I not only always hired a pastry chef, I married her. Learning the ratios of bread and other baked goods has taken me 20 years of “you’re doing it wrong” to get to a place where I feel like I can play a bit with those old recipes.

Recipes are still needed though. When you see one you really want to try in this information is everywhere age, grab at least three different versions. You will see some common features and some replaced ingredients. I usually try the simplest version from someone with the same heritage as the food in question. For example I am currently planning to cook Feijoada using only outdoor methods. As I am researching the dish I will look at probably 10-15 recipes, but I am sure the base method will come from a Brazilian Translation instead of some California Chef’s Notes. This is not to say the Chef’s would be lesser in quality, but will probably lose some of the emotion of the food. Always look for something as close to the origin as you can for verisimilitude. You are making you version anyway, so don’t hesitate to change what you don’t like.

Now when it comes to why we need more recipes its simple. Our kids need to know how we did it. Comfort food is food that makes you feel like a time of comfort in the past. It is way easier for me to make my Deda’s chili with his recipe in front of me than if I just made chili. (Deda was my paternal grandfather and owner of The Brookland’s Café in Akron)

Remember the recipe is not rules, just guidelines and a window into the mind of the cook that spent the time to write it down. They are sharing their experience with you, so don’t devalue that. But if it bread or a complex cake or biscuit… Just follow it, Its easier than trying to explain to your Pastry Chef wife why the kitchen is a mess and you have a lump of bird food in the oven.