Jamaican Jerk Rib Tips with Rice and Peas

This post was inspired by a fellow Chicago food blogger, Smokin' Chokin' and Chowing with the King.

The posts on his travels to Jamaica and his Jerk Pork recipes looked very tasty so I wanted to give it a try. You can read his posts on Jerk Pork here and here.

I used the rib tips from spare ribs. They are full of meat with little bone tips. Slowly-smoked over a low heat for hours produces a great tasting rib tip.

You can make your own Jerk seasoning but if you don't have the time, I recommend Walkerswood Jerk Seasoning/Marinade.

Jerk seasoning is known for its use of allspice or pimento as it is called in Jamaica and scotch bonnet peppers. It also contains nutmeg, thyme, garlic, cinnamon, and other spices. Jerk is primarily used with pork and chicken.

You want to marinade the rib tips for about a day in the refridgerator. Make sure to rub the marinade all over the pork for even seasoning.

After marinating, you want to prepare the grill. Set the coals up on one side and place of foil pan half-filled with water on the other side for indirect grilling. Once the coals are hot, place a few handfuls of your choice of wood chips. Place the rib tips over the foil pans on the indirect side.

You want to smoke the rib tips between 2-4 hours. Mine were done around 3 hours where it hit 160 degrees of internal meat temperature.

Keep adding wood chips and pay attention to your valves to keep a low internal grill temperature. Chibbqking uses a bottle of whole allspice berries spread over the coals and wood chips to infuse its scent into the meat. I didn't have any whole allspice berries but I imagine that would be a good step to add to the process.

After the rib tips are done on the grill, let them rest for a bit. The smoke creates a nice outer layer of bark and a crispiness flavored by the jerk seasonings.

Get out a large, heavy knife and chop away at the rib tips. There will be little pieces of rib tip bones. Just hack through them or if you prefer, cut around them.

My dream of having a machete or a large meat cleaver haven't come true yet but those tools would be perfect to chop through the bones and meat.

Jamaican rice and peas are a popular side dish for jerk chicken or pork. Peas, however, are not the peas you may be thinking about. They call their red kidney beans...peas. To prepare the rice and peas, you'll need:

• 1 can red kidney beans
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 cups of rice
• 3 scallions
• 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• one scotch bonnet pepper or habenero/jalapeno
• water

Add milk and water to make 4 cups. Place the liquid in a pot combined with the beans, scallion, garlic, and thyme. Bring to a boil and then add the rice. Reduce heat to low setting. Place pepper on top of rice but do not pierce the pepper. You want to add a subtle pepper flavor. Cover and cook until rice is done, about 22-24 minutes.

Combine the chopped rib tips with the rice and peas. To make the experience more Jamaican, serve with Red Stripe, a popular Jamaican lager.

I have to say, all the flavors went well together. A truly, tasty Jamaican meal. The smoky flavor of the pork combined with the jerk seasoning was balanced well with the rice and peas. There was a little heat from the jerk but not overpowering. The lager did a great job washing it all down.

The rib tips were quite meaty while containing nice bits of fat. I have to give a lot of credit to the Smokin' Chokin' and Chowing with the King food blog for introducing me to jerk rib tips. The preparation is not too much to handle and the smoking process doesn't take all day. It is an easy meal to prepare and the results are really satisfying.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin is far off from Negril, Jamaica but this dish brought me a little closer. Thanks chibbqking!