An excuse to drink a dark and stormy on a sunday night


 
j biesinger

j biesinger

TVWBB Platinum Member
On a recent visit to Cleveland, I hit a Hispanic market and stumbled on 2 new kinds of Jamaican ginger beer, one was "Old Colony" made by DG in Canada, the other was something "Reggae style." It all amounted to a nice excuse to drink rum and cook Caribbean, and on a worknight.

In case you haven't read my previous posts we take our Caribbean food seriously.

Tonight started with dark and stormy's and fried plaintain and yuca chips, mango salsa, green peppercorn dip, and two types of fritters.

yuca fritters with pickled purple onions
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my personal favorite... stamp n' go
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After mixing in a few rum swizzles (a new drink introduced to us by our cocktail specialist) the meat hit the grill.

I marinated pork tenderloins using my all-time favorite jerk recipe and grilled them on a gas grill using my spice packet method. The pork got plated along with the mango salsa which blended perfectly with the jerk glaze to make a great sauce.
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I backed up the pork with a couple of pounds of shrimp, lightly seasoned, and glazed with a really great guava sauce (recipe to come)
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Sides included arroz amarillo, stuffed christophenes, and Dominican red beans which were made with some home-cured guanciale (ok this sounds absurd, but I happen to have the cheeks hanging after getting them on the same Cleveland trip, and I only mention it because these were easily the best beans I ever made and the cheek was pretty much the only thing in the beans that could have made them so **** good).

dessert was vanilla ice cream with shortbread cookie and dolce de leche.
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But what about the ginger beer? Old Colony was sweeter and a tad restrained in terms of ginger. Reggae style had all the in-your-face ginger burn that makes me love Jamaican ginger beer.
 
Holy Cow Jeff - Talk about an "In your face" cook. WOW! What a great spread and I can assure you that anyone looking in here will be back to get any and all additional details that may become available on this cook. Great job and thanks for sharing. WOW. Bob B
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Fantastic display Jeff! Holy Smokes, looks like I'm on vacation in the tropics! Very Cool!!
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WOW!!!
My wife teases me because I always mention how the Red Lobster commercials make me drool.

Add Nickel City Caribbean Delights to that category.

R
 
You've outdone yourself J. Those tenderloins look unbelievable; I can almost taste the mango salsa!
BTW J, I just made a copy of your jerk recipe and hope to get to making jerk chicken soon. Will let you know. Thanks!
 
I'd be ecstatic if I made any ONE of those dishes, let alone the entire meal! Wonderful stuff!
 
Ya mon!


Did you slice the tenderloins into skewer size chunks before or after marinating. I've been looking for an alternative preparation for tenderloins, and I think I'd like to give that one a go.

Great stuff!
 
First off, you all are too kind, but thanks...I appreciate the compliments.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I can assure you that anyone looking in here will be back to get any and all additional details that may become available on this cook. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

more details are here:

guava glaze recipe

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> BTW J, I just made a copy of your jerk recipe and hope to get to making jerk chicken soon. Will let you know. Thanks! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I love to hear that, the recipe is beyond good, more need to make it.

If you can, serve with the salsa which was a simple combo of: very ripe mango, purple onion, green onion, cilantro, habanero, salt and a splash of evoo.

And I'm considering easing back on the molasses in the finishing sauce, either by switching to light or swapping out some for more brown sugar. It a great sauce as is, but thought lightening it up could improve it some.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Did you slice the tenderloins into skewer size chunks before or after marinating. I've been looking for an alternative preparation for tenderloins, and I think I'd like to give that one a go. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

the pork was diced and marinated overnight. I kept two 3-4" sections whole, that I cooked to temp and sliced. I only ate the sliced pork which I though can out great. Guest who tried both mentioned that the sliced loin was moister, which was why I kept some whole, figuring it would be easier to hit my mark.
 
It's ridiculous that my first post on here is related to rum drinks and not barbecue, but I've become somewhat of an expert on the drinks you mentioned after becoming obsessed with them in Bermuda last year.

The Dark & Stormy is the official drink of Bermuda, and it's a blend of the local ginger beer (Barrett's) with a fantastic local rum called Gosling's Black Seal. I've yet to find this ginger beer in PA, but it's not as spicy or tangy as the Jamaican stuff but has a much stronger ginger flavor than ginger ale. It's a little more refreshing than the spicy stuff.

We spent quite a bit of our honeymoon at the Swizzle Inn, said to be the originator of the Rum Swizzle. Here's a recipe that is very close to theirs: http://www.goslingsrum.com/details.asp?RecipeID=8
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">It's ridiculous that my first post on here is related to rum drinks and not barbecue, but I've become somewhat of an expert on the drinks you mentioned after becoming obsessed with them in Bermuda last year.

The Dark & Stormy is the official drink of Bermuda, and it's a blend of the local ginger beer (Barrett's) with a fantastic local rum called Gosling's Black Seal. I've yet to find this ginger beer in PA, but it's not as spicy or tangy as the Jamaican stuff but has a much stronger ginger flavor than ginger ale. It's a little more refreshing than the spicy stuff.

We spent quite a bit of our honeymoon at the Swizzle Inn, said to be the originator of the Rum Swizzle. Here's a recipe that is very close to theirs: http://www.goslingsrum.com/details.asp?RecipeID=8 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Barrett's should be available domestically. I had a ds made with it and Gosling's, at a bar on Cape Cod. I've yet to see it though. I'm sure its a bigger deal in that part of the country where Bermuda is a short sail away.

I've never been to Bermuda, but have been to Jamaica. I use the Jamaican ginger beers because its what I'm familiar with and just about the only thing I can get around here that has a reasonable amount of ginger flavor.

I have intentions of brewing my own ginger beer and have a few recipes. And I was at a bar in Boston and had what they called a "Mark 'n Stormy" which was Maker's Mark and their homemade ginger beer that was made with scotch bonnet peppers. It was awesome and got me thinking I got to dig up those recipes and get cooking.

Swizzles are great too, I'm lucky that my friend spends a lot of time researching classic cocktails and goes to great lengths to recreate them.

Welcome to the board!
 
Jeff, that looks incredible. I love Caribbean food but I've never professed to be capable of reproducing it well at home. I typically rely on Walkerswood's Jerk Seasoning as a rub for chicken and pork, and as good as it is it's still not in the neighborhood of the real thing. Have you ever found a bottled jerk marinade that was worthwhile? Most of the ones I've found seem to be sugary crap.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Have you ever found a bottled jerk marinade that was worthwhile? Most of the ones I've found seem to be sugary crap. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Agreed. I only had true Jamaican jerk once and it was a long time ago and way before I developed any taste memory, regardless, the bottle stuff doesn't have the flavor profile I'm looking for.

I trust the source for the recipe found in the original post, and its easy enough to make in the blender, so I haven't done much experimenting with other recipes or bottled stuff.

I always read other recipes and have a few collected, but I always come back to that recipe.

I find Caribbean cooking a mixed bag. Most of the traditional dishes aren't something I'm interested in cooking. But there's elements and themes that are cool to play with. And its liberating using fresh tropical fruits, searing hot chiles, and just about the whole spice cabinet.
 
Unbelievable. That trumps any 4 meals I've ever put together in their entirety. Seriously. Some of you guys really know how to cook. My repertoire is so vanilla compared to stuff like this. All I can do is nod in your direction on this one. I just don't think words will do any justice to what I think of this.
 
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