15 Jamaican Recipes From Jerk Chicken to Callaloo
“Jamaica is written about in different ways in different places, and rarely by the same people,” reflects 2019 F&W Best New Chef Kwame Onwuachi in his own Jamaican travelogue. “Travel stories wax lyrical about the beaches (snow white), the ocean (deep blue), and the music (reggae, now on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list).” But Onwuachi celebrates the food: the bounty that is Jamaican cuisine, which springs from the island's diverse traditions and sometimes brutal history.
The flavors of Indigenous Tainos, colonizing Spaniards, imperial British, kidnapped Africans, as well as indentured Chinese and East Indians — “vinegars and peppers and curries” — combine in thrilling, unforgettable ways. While there's overlap in ingredients and technique with other Caribbean recipes (and Caribbean histories), there's something unique about Jamaican cuisine. (The same goes for Jamaican drinks.) Capture some of those flavors in your own kitchen with F&W's favorite Jamaican recipes.
Pepperpot
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
This effortful but rewarding seafood stew is fragrant with ginger and lemongrass and strewn with shrimp and semolina dumplings. 2017 F&W Best New Chef Nina Compton “wanted to highlight that Jamaican cuisine is more than just jerk chicken.”
Beef Patties
Jen Causey / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Jillian Knox
Earthy aromatics, grassy herbs, and punchy spices make this street-food staple an icon of Jamaican cuisine. Brigid Washington's version of beef patties features a flaky, curry-laced dough and a filling spiked with ginger and Scotch bonnet.
Braised Oxtails with Carrots and Chiles
Once braised, deeply flavorful oxtails practically melt. Novelist and food writer Bryan Washington shares his recipe for this dish of Jamaican oxtail stew cooked long and low with carrots, chiles, and butter beans — an homage to a version made by his mother.
Jerk Chicken
Greg Dupree / Food Styling by Mariana Velasquez / Prop Styling by Thom Driver
Fragrant, smoky, and hot, this jerk chicken recipe was named one of Food & Wine's 40 best recipes in 2018. What makes this version special is the addition of five-spice powder to the classic jerk spice blend. “This spark of cinnamon enhances the rich clove flavor imparted by the allspice berries,” says former F&W editor Marcia Kiesel.
Black Cake
Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Ali Ramee / Prop Styling by Christina Daley
This rum-soaked treat is the ultimate holiday fruitcake, a dense and delicious concoction made of pureed, macerated dried plums, currants, cherries, and raisins. Black cakes can be found across the Caribbean; this one's uniquely Jamaican flavor comes through with the addition of dark molasses.
Pepper Crawfish
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Melissa Gray / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell
Photographer and Black Food Folks cofounder Clay Williams was first introduced to “crawfish and peppa shrimp” on a family trip to Jamaica as a child, where it was bought packed in clear plastic bags and then devoured in the car. This version of the dish — crawfish boiled in lemon and chile–infused water — can be enjoyed anywhere, no car necessary.
Rice and Peas
Diana Chistruga
In a traditional dish of rice and peas, either red kidney beans or green pigeon peas (aka gungo peas) are cooked in coconut milk and seasoned with the special trinity of thyme, scallion, and garlic. Allspice berries and Scotch bonnet pepper are also pulling their weight here, bringing subtle heat and a woodsy flavor.
Brown Stew Chicken
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
Browning sauce, a pantry staple in Jamaica, is the key to this spicy and sweet chicken dish from chef Briana Riddock of Forth in Atlanta. Chicken is marinated and braised in aromatics and browning sauce (made with caramelized sugar, water, and spices) until tender and juicy.
Coco Bread
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Sarah Elizabeth Cleveland
Jamaica is the birthplace of this tender, barely sweet bread made from flour, yeast, and coconut milk. This recipe from food writer and cookbook author Brigid Ransome Washington substitutes coconut oil for the traditional butter, which intensifies the bread's namesake coconut flavor.
Escovitch Snapper
Caitlin Bensel / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop styling by Christine Keely
Escovitch fish — which is fried and then topped with pickled, thinly sliced vegetables — is everywhere in Jamaica. This snapper recipe, inspired Onwuachi's 2019 trip to Jamaica, features a garlicky marinade that forms a crust as the fish cooks. Pickled chiles, carrots, and onions make a bright and crunchy garnish.
Callaloo
Greg Dupree / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
“What to call callaloo is a problem that has bedeviled Caribbean cooks forever,” says Onwuachi. (In Jamaica, it refers to both a leafy green and the dish made with them.) Braise greens until tender in a tomato and pepper–seasoned broth from Onwuachi's book, My America. If you can't find the eponymous ingredient, you can substitute with a mix of spinach and collards.
Festival (Cornbread Fritters)
Greg Dupree / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Thom Driver
These slightly sweet corn bread fritters — a ubiquitous street food in Jamaica — may have gotten their name from just how fun they are to eat. Similar to hush puppies, they have a crisp exterior from the fryer with a light and fluffy interior.
Stew Peas and Spinners
Andrew Bui / Food Styling by Max Rappaport
Brigid Ransome Washington makes this hearty, fragrant, and satisfying vegan stew with red kidney beans, coconut milk, and spinners (a kind of dumpling). It's based on her Jamaican mother-in-law's version.
Pork Stew
Evi Abeler
Carrots, cabbage, thyme, and scallions — among Jamaica's most prolific produce — are stewed until very tender and flavored throughout by slow-cooked pork shoulder. It's especially satisfying when served with a bowl of warm rice.
Hot Sauce
Ian Knauer
Scotch bonnets and scallions are blended with allspice and dark brown sugar in this vinegary hot sauce that's an ideal companion to beef patties.
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