Fired Up
By Melissa Thompson
1 hr 30 mins
Not Too Tricky
serves 2
About the recipe
Jerk is traditionally cooked over pimento wood in Jamaica, but that method isn’t always sustainable or practical here in the UK. So instead, I use bay leaves on branches. It’s everywhere, even in the city. I lay down a bed of bay branches and place the protein on top. Jerk chicken’s what people know these days, but jerk actually started with pork. Back in Jamaica, there were wild pigs in the mountains, and the indigenous people, along with the Maroons – enslaved Africans who escaped – would catch and cook them underground. That’s how jerk pork began.
Recipe From
Ingredients
500g pork belly, cut into 1.5cm-thick slices
1 sweetheart cabbage, cut into 4 wedges
your favourite chilli pepper sauce, to serve
DRY RUB
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground pimento berries (allspice)
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon dried thyme
3t teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons golden caster sugar
1-2 teaspoons ground Scotch bonnet powder (if you can’t find it, use dried habanero or cayenne pepper, or leave out and use a bit more Scotch bonnet in the wet marinade)
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
JERK MARINADE
20g piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1-2 spring onions, trimmed and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon pimento berries
½ a tablespoon golden caster sugar
3-4 garlic cloves, peeled
6 thyme sprigs, roughly stripped
1½ tablespoons white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
½ Scotch bonnet, deseeded or not depending on heat tolerance
¾ of a teaspoons sea salt
¾ of a teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
LIME CHILLI BUTTER
1 medium garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
¼ -½ Scotch bonnet, deseeded and finely chopped
1 spring onion, finely sliced
100g salted butter, at room temperature
1 lime, zest of and quartered for garnish
freshly ground black pepper
JERK SAUCE
4 tablespoons barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
a drizzle of honey
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
BARBECUE KIT:
a lot of bay branches and leaves
Weber steaming/smoking reservoir
Method
- Mix the dry rub ingredients together, then use 2-3 tablespoons to rub all over the pork belly, massaging it into the meat (keep the rest of the dry rub for tasty cooking another day).
- Blitz the marinade ingredients together in a food processor or blender until smooth. In a bowl, massage most of the marinade into the pork, reserving 1 tablespoon for later. Leave to marinade in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, but ideally overnight.
- When you’re ready to cook, remove the pork from the fridge and allow it to come up to room temperature. Set up the barbecue with two heat zones – one side with the grill plate and the other side with the steam reservoir. Fill the steam reservoir with water – the steam will help keep the temperature steady and gentle.
- Gather the bay branches and and cut them to fit the size of the grill plate. Layer on the grill, trying to fill any spaces with leaves. Set the temperature to low (approx. 100-130°C). Place the pork slices directly on the bed of bay – this will infuse the meat with a delicate, aromatic smoke and protect it, while also stopping any fat dripping on the hot element. Close the grill lid to allow the pork to slowly render its fat on one side for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the lime chilli butter. Mix the chopped garlic, Scotch bonnet and spring onion into the softened butter with the lime zest. Place the pot on the steamer section of the barbecue to melt slightly, if needed, then remove and season with a pinch of black pepper.
- Once the time’s up on the pork, use tongs to turn it over. Place the cabbage wedges in the steaming section, brush with a tiny bit of oil and cook alongside the pork with the lid down for 20 minutes.
- In a bowl, mix the jerk sauce ingredients with the reserved jerk marinade.
- Transfer the pork to the steaming section and discard the bay branches from the grill. Place the cabbage wedges directly onto the grill and cook for 2 minutes, or until charred, turning regularly, then brush with a little lime chilli butter and cook for 2 minutes, or until tender, turning halfway. Remove to the steaming section.
- Return the pork to the grill and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until it starts to turn golden brown, then brush generously with the jerk sauce to create a rich, glossy, caramelised finish.
- Cook for a few minutes until gnarly, turning regularly, then remove to a board to rest for a couple of minutes.
- Divide the pork between serving plates. Serve with the cabbage, lime wedges and your favourite chilli pepper sauce.
Recipe adapted from Fired Up, published by Carnival, 2026.
Recipe tested on a Weber Lumin Barbecue
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