An Introduction to Jerk

Jerk Chicken that is (or turkey in this case).

My husband had never until tonight had jerk chicken. Having lived in London, I'd sampled it's delights from a friend at church who happened to be from the West Indies. It's great, if a little warm.

So, I saw a pack of jerk seasoning in Tesco, and decided to buy it to go with the large amount of cheap turkey we picked up at the same time. One coffee grinder, a lemon and some tomato paste later I had serious chunks of turkey marinading.

The packet said marinade for 2 hours. I did it overnight (the flavour really gets to the centre of the meat). I then put together some kebabs (about 11), consiting of jerk turkey, cherry tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms. Heat a grill, put them under, and turn occasionally until cooked.

My husband found them very nice, they were a bit warm for me, but nothing sticking my tongue into a couple of pots of Muller Light wouldn't cure.

The other person in our household who hasn't had jerk til today was Tabitha, our small cat. (Fermat, the large one is a hunter, Tabitha is a scavenger.) She smelled meat, she saw us consuming something, and assumed that it was meat, and required her portion.

Have you ever seen a cat who has suddenly realised that she's eaten something which is a tad too warm for her. I swear she was pushing her tongue out of her mouth just to get it less hot. The look on her face was good too - pity I didn't have a camera around.

Currently she is sitting just to the right of my husband's keyboard and trying to snatch the food from the remaining kebabs which he is demolishing quite quickly. Obviously it wasn't too hot.