Your goose is cooked! Good or bad connotation? Both, actually, but I'll leave you to figure that one out. In the meantime, I am honoured to introduce myself as The Gleaner's restaurant critic. My column is no ordinary one. Twice monthly, not only will I be featuring one restaurant, but I shall only be discussing a single aspect of the particular eatery - one of the food, atmosphere, décor, service, cocktails, etc.
I thought I might let you in gently by going for something familiar to Jamaicans - jerk and 'takeout'. Jimmy's Catering Services, which is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Hessing, has been going for 20 years or so. Having tasted an array of what they offer at Frenchmen's Carnival and the James Bond Premier last year, my respect for their achievements is unbending.
They don't pretend to be fancy - they just prepare good ol' Jamaican cuisine for a whole heap of people!
Sometime in the last couple weeks, I was invited to a friend's house for dinner. When I heard that she was ordering jerk pork and chicken, and plantain, to be delivered, I thought to myself, how sensible. No matter how much one might enjoy cooking, the hassle of organising it all can really draw the host away from the party.
Move over Pork Pit, Boston Jerk, Faith's Pen and Scotchies! This pork is by far the most succulent and tender I have ever tasted. The meat itself was lean, seasoned with a deliciously 'hot' jerk marinade whose pungent spices like garlic and pimento were ever so subtle. The soft morsels of pork fat, hinged by the hip to the juicy pig itself, simply melted on your tongue like chocolate.
Throughout the night I kept snitching another smidgen, wondering if I persuaded my host to give me the leftovers at the end, how I would finish it all off by myself. With flavours and a texture like that, I'd manage! How long could I keep it in the fridge? Probably a fair few days seeing as that was what jerk was invented for - to preserve meat.
If I put it in the freezer, would the pork retain its star quality? No, I don't think so. If it was raw then I would say yes. If only I had asked for a 'doggie bag'! I could have used slithers of it in sandwiches the next day. How decadent it would have been to add some soft slices of fried plantain. Ooh, and imagine how well it would have gone down in a salad with arugula, tomato and feta, all tossed together in a peppery balsamic dressing.
Tad too dry
While the chicken was marinated in the same way and tasted good, some of it was just a tad too dry. Chicken is actually one of the more difficult things to get just right.
The leg and thigh will always take longer to cook than the breast, which when fried, roasted or grilled to perfection, can be easily cut with a fork's edge and will have clear juices dripping down the handle.
Please spread this little secret around town - remove breast from pan, oven, BBQ before all other parts of chicken, even if you are roasting the whole bird!
The plantains were diagonally divided into one-inch chunks and beautifully browned, but alas they were pretty raw in the middle. Two things might have gone wrong here. Either they were 'green' from the start, in which case slice them ever so thinly, fry in very hot oil until crispy, and sprinkle with salt.
Assuming they were ripe and you want to keep the pieces thick, place in a baking tray with a dot of butter on each, and roast in a medium hot oven until silky and golden.
If you prefer the traditional fried ripe plantain, cut into quarter-inch slices and fry gently in oil until a knife glides in easily, turn up the heat to give a good colour.
And on that fat note, I shall leave you to call Jimmy (945-5000) at once. Such a shame Charlotte's web can't save all little piglets!
Spencer Williams, Food Critic
