Helen WillinskyJerk from Jamaica: Barbecue Caribbean Style [A Cookbook]

I've read this book from cover to cover and I'm so looking forward to trying most of the recipes. One thing I know about Jamaican food is it's generally HOT (as in Scotch Bonnets hot!) but so flavorful. My family doesn't do hot unfortunately so I had to figure out how to tame the heat of Scotch Bonnets/Habaneros and still get their unique fruity flavor without all the heat. Just ask Google how it's done. I love Google.

It's not an in-depth, novel, overly self-aware, aggressively gourmet book. And that's OK. Thing about jerk is that it's really Food For The People, not haute cuisine. Get too fancy with it and it loses what makes it special in the first place.This book holds well to its roots, I think. It starts from simplicity and kind of keeps it that way. The idea here is to make jerk approachable for someone, so it's not going to get too crazy. And again, that's OK. If you've never had jerk before, or only at a restaurant, then this is a good way to get started. Indeed, after some time spent with this book you may decide that Americanized jerk is missing a certain something.What I'm trying to say is that I found this book to let me approach jerk in a bit more authentic way, I think. Again, it's simple, but then jerk is simple.I like the book very well as an introduction. I stop a little short because even after all I just said, I do wish there were a bit more, I don't know, guidance after one has gone through what this book has to give. It's an introduction but it's not an exhaustive study, and inevitably the home cook will want to experiment - which I don't know that this book really supports.That aside, I do like the book. It's helped me learn (or re-learn) jerk and my cooking is better as a result.

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.

One reviewer says that this book is about one marinade and one recipe for each type of meat. Its true, you get the basic marinades and sauces and then becomes too simplistic. There are very few pictures to see the finished product but the flavors are genuine. Until this or other books on jerk are published with more graphic material, this will be your go to book for jerk flavor. Along with tandoori and barbecue, this completes a trio of cooking sytles that can make you a very dangrous cook.

After our second trip to Jamaica, we decided to get a cookbook to try to recreate some of the delicious food we enjoyed there. We find this book to be very helpful, with simple recipes that so far have produced wonderful results. Ms. Willinsky has given clear directions and options for substitutions when authentic ingredients might be hard to find. We have now made several dinners using recipes from this book, and they have been wonderful!

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.

very soft cover. I'd expect a healthier and more robust book if it's going to be used in a kitchen, outside grilling etc. says it's printed in china so no wonder :)

I am 3/4 into this cook book it's okay, the jerk marinades I personally did not like in this book. I found one online that I been using for 2years now online. Go to Caribbean pot.com , link jerk marinades and give it a try. Recipe.

Sorry I thought that I had ordered a hard copy of this book but it seems that I have ordered a Kindle version. So I initially gave this one star. Now that I have read it I have to say it is a great book.

Lovely book and full of good information. Very happy to recommend.

Some ok things to cook. However never known a Jerk recipe that had no garlic or ginger. Maybe it’ was written for the masses

great book and excellent service

Good book