Customer Reviews

Jerk from Jamaica: Barbecue Caribbean Style

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I received "Jerk from Jamaica" in the mail on Saturday, and my husband and I couldn't resist planning a feast for the next day. Already I'm singing the praises of this book, and I just can't get enough of the leftovers.

Helen Willinsky grew up in Jamaica, studied cooking in Europe, and ran a resort in Jamaica; she includes family recipes, traditional recipes, and recipes that blend older Jamaican elements with newer ingredients and traditions. She strikes a beautiful balance, one so many authors fail to achieve, between introducing us to traditional methods and ingredients and yet making it possible for us to enjoy Jamaican flavors in our own kitchens even if we don't have access to a barbecue grill or all of the traditional Jamaican flavorings.

You'll need access to some sort of barbecue grill or the equivalent in order to get the most out of this cookbook, it's true, but it's certainly worth buying even if you don't have that. Oven directions are included for many recipes, and there are even adaptations to the slow cooker and other such modern conveniences. A few sources for ingredients are provided, as well as substitutions using more commonly-found items.

The quality of the recipes is right up there with the Sugar Mill cookbook, but this book focuses primarily on a simpler, narrower type of cooking. It's easy to whip up these recipes with little advance notice, but they'll satisfy your tastebuds for days on end. If you're looking for something new to do with your grill, this will certainly qualify!

When we went to Jamaica in '05 for the first time, we broke out of the all-inclusive, rented a driver and took a day trip long the north coast. We had our first meat patties and stopped at the driver's favorite jerk stand and had our first real jerk chicken washed down with Red Stripe.

When we cook out of this book, every recipe takes us back. We brought Helen's first book back with us from Jamaica and we never cooked anything from it that we didn't enjoy. What I get from this book is the sense of Jerk. I grow my own Scotch Bonnets and now prefer them over the many Habanero varieties I've grown. I look for the biggest Jamaican pimento berries I can find (usually at a Mexican grocery).

If you've ever had jerk and wondered if you can do it too--buy this book. You can! Follow her recipes and it will be jerk, Mon.

I am a Jamaican that has lived in the United States going on 9 years.I love to cook and I love jerk chicken and have tried many different variations of this recipe from online resources, marinades and other cookbooks. The results have always been disappointing, to say the least. I bought this book based on the reviews and tried one of the first recipes, the jerk marinade. I marinated it in chicken over night and cooked it on my gas grill with pimento wood chips as instructed - oh my goodness it was delicious! Tasted just like the jerk chicken I grew up with and love. Finally an authentic jerk recipe that I can make for my friends and family members!

We have been working our way through this cookbook. Every recipe we have tried has been wonderful. Spicy, bright, flavorful. We love it. Recipes are easy to follow, results wonderful

Ms. Willinsky has put together a very down to earth, readable and do-able cook book. I've tried three of the meats and one of the salads, and intend to do more. None of the jerk is too hot as written -- add your own peppers as you wish -- so nothing to be afraid cf "jerk" you may have had elsewhere. The flavors are very subtle.

I made the spice rub like the recipe in the book and have mainly cooked some of the chicken. It tastes very munch like that I buy down the street at a place that makes jerk dishes. The "cook" is from Jamaica and he says thats the way they make it down there. The tastes are quite a departure from any other foods I have eaten. The book is very well laid out with many pretty pictures. Tom...

This is another recipe book that pleased me very much.It was very easy to follow the recipes, it was also very colorful, so the reader can have an idea of how the finished meal will look. This is another book that I will recommend to someone who is now learning to cook as well as someone who wants to try different Island recipes.You will get it cheaper if you buy it from Amazon.

This weekend my beau and I decided to bbq. I pulled out this book, since I figured a red stripe and some jerk pork ribs, chicken wings, and shrimp would be awesome. I found all three recipes to be delicious, in fact my 8 year old nephew refuses to eat shrimp and he continued to shovel in the jerk shrimp. First, my cooking skill level is minimal and I found the recipes easy to prepare. Second, I really like the fact that sauce and rub recipes are used more than once throughout the book. Third, at the end of our bbq, I did not have a lot of ingredients remaining allowing for very little waste. This is a great book, it has inspired me to try other Jamaican cookbooks.

This book is very well put together and explains many things about the Jerk way of cooking. Good pics and easy to follow, good buy!

The book makes jamaican cooking easy and the recipies that I have tried are very flavorful and taste good. The rubs and marinades can be used to add flavour to non-jaqmaican foods as well. There are certainly enough keepers in this book to make buying it a terrific deal.