Jerk seasoning is a hot Jamaican spice marinade from the Caribbean used to prepare barbecued meats.
Jerk is believed to have originated in the 1600s as a meat preservation and cooking technique, and is now popular the world over. The funny name comes from the Spanish word for dried meat, charqui, which turned into jerk (and jerky) in English. A Caribbean signature dish, recipes for jerk seasoning are as varied as those for American barbecue sauce.
The basic recipe involves hot Scotch Bonnet peppers, thyme, garlic, green onions and spices like ginger, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Whether dry-rubbed into the traditional pork (and nowadays, chicken, fish, beef and tofu) or moistened with molasses, vinegar or other liquids to create a marinade, the jerk-seasoned meat is then barbecued over low coals or traditional pimento (or allspice) wood.
Related: What's a spice paste good for?
What is a Scotch Bonnet pepper?
What is a Scotch Bonnet pepper?
The Scotch Bonnet chili pepper is one of the hottest peppers known to man, right up there on the Scoville scale with the habanero.
Yellow, orange or red, these little roughly one-inch peppers from the Caribbean have an irregular shape and are named because of their resemblance to Scottish tam o'shanter bonnets. Scotch Bonnet peppers are used to make Jamaican jerk and other Caribbean dishes.
Don't try to show off and eat them raw, which can cause dizziness, numbed cheeks and hands, and a bad case of heartburn.
Chorizo always refers to a pork sausage. The most common type is Spanish chorizo, a firm, red-colored pork sausage. Usually spiced with paprika and garlic, Spanish chorizo is cured and therefore doesn't need to be cooked (though it often still is). Sometimes, it's a little on the spicy side, but sometimes it's not. Like most types of sausages, there are as many variations of Spanish chorizo as there are people who eat it.
Mexican chorizo differs from Spanish chorizo in that it's an encased fresh sausage that must be cooked before eating. It also tends to be spicier (due to the addition of chile peppers) and fattier than its European counterpart.
Recipe: Chorizo And Eggs (Simply Recipes)
Reference: A Common Sense Guide to Chorizo and Spanish Sausages (La Tienda)
Reference: What is andouille? (Cookthink)
The word curry was invented by British colonialists in the 18th century. Most likely a bastardization of the Indian word kari (meaning sauce), it refers to a number of saucy dishes flavored with curry powder or curry paste.
The idea of curry began in India. By the beginning of the 18th century, the Dutch and the British were selling standardized curry powders. At the Universal Paris Exhibition of 1889, a curry decree set the composition of curry as having prescribed amounts of tamarind, onion, coriander, chilli pepper, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, pepper, and mustard.
Today, curry powder may also include cloves, cardamon, ginger, nutmeg, fennel, caraway, ajowan seeds, dried basil, mustard seeds, mace, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, saffron or cinnamon. The mix depends on the cook, as curry recipes can be found in the cuisines of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Caribbean.
While there is no rigid definition of "a curry," many restaurants use it as a generic term for sauce-based dishes that can vary in spice content and heat, and can contain meat, poultry, seafood, vegetables, coconut milk, onions, fresh ginger, kaffir lime leaves and other ingredients.
Curry powder's flavors fade quickly, and Indian curry powder is ideally made to order depending on the dish. Madras curry powder is named after the southern Indian region from which it comes. Careful if you're not used to it, as it tends to pack a lot more heat.
Recipe: Curried Brussels Sprouts And Sweet Potatoes (cookthink)
Recipe: Red Curry Chicken Breasts (cookthink)
Empanadas are named after the Spanish verb empanar, which means to coat or wrap in bread.
Baked or fried turnovers that are made with pastry dough and stuffed with endless combinations of meat and/or vegetables or fruit, empanadas are usually shaped like half-moons and range in size from bite-sized to family-sized.
Many countries around the world claim the empanada as one of their own, including Mexico, Argentina, Portugal, the Caribbean, the Philippines and Spain, where empanadas are thought to have been born in Galicia. Indian samosas are one example of similar preparations found elsewhere in the world.
What's the difference between light and dark rum?
What's the difference between light and dark rum?
Rum is a liquor made from both fermented sugar cane and its syrupy by-product, molasses. The rum is aged in casks of various materials which determine its final color.
Light rum (also called silver or white) is fermented in steel and filtered and has a clear color and a light, slightly sweet taste. Gold or amber rums are aged in oak, which produces a more caramel color and richer, more pronounced flavor. Rich, caramel dark rum is made by aging clear rum in charred oak casks, giving it a deep brown color and a full flavor. Note that spiced rum, which is flavored with spices and (often) caramel, does not qualify as dark rum.
