Jamaican

🇯🇲

Jamaican Patty (Turmeric Pastry with Spiced Beef)

Jamaica's half-moon pastry: a turmeric-yellow crust around minced beef cooked with curry powder, thyme and scotch bonnet. It is the British pasty after it met Indian and African seasoning in the Caribbean. The gold on the crust is not the colour of baking but a colour the turmeric put there first, so doneness is read from the base and the crimp, not from the colour.

🇯🇲

Ackee and Saltfish

Jamaica's national dish: salt cod soaked until it is fish again, then folded through ackee cooked briefly with onion, sweet pepper, scotch bonnet and thyme. Ackee is toxic when unripe, and the thing that matters here is that cooking does not fix it. The pod has to open on the tree by itself; one prised open early stays dangerous however long it is simmered. The instruction is a refusal rather than a technique.

🇯🇲

Jerk Chicken

Chicken marinated in a blend of allspice, thyme, and scotch bonnet, then grilled smoky and charred — Jamaica's signature dish. A spicy, aromatic crust over juicy meat, served with rice and peas for a plate of the Caribbean.