I took the Florida BBQ Association Judging class a while back and had the pleasure of befriending Ricky Ginsburg, acting treasurer of the Florida BBQ Association at the Time. Ricky has graciously shared his AUTHENTIC, yes, AUTHENTIC Jerk Seasoning Recipe with me, that he placed 3rd overall with at the Jamaican Jerk Festival.
FYI, South Florida is the Nation’s hub of Caribbean transplants so placing in this festival is a pretty big deal. It took him many trips sampling a lot of Jamaican Jerk in Boston Bay, and a 6 pack of Red Strip to get this recipe from the pit- I mean Jerk Master. Here is his recount of this recipe and the experience! Enjoy!
Ricky Ginsburg is the treasurer of the Florida BBQ Association and makes one mean Authentic Jerk Rub! Since the Jamaican Jerk Festival is this weekend in Markham Park in Sunrise, Ricky Ginsburg from Boca Boys has generously sent us a guest post recalling his Jamaican Jerk Festival experiences.
I cooked at the Jamaican Jerk Festival for the first time in 2007. There were about 15 or 16 registered teams. My team, Boca Boys, went traditional with our chicken and pork, but cooked my now famous Jerk Leg of Lamb and even made a huge bowl of Boca Boys Baked Beans – except that I substituted the Jerk Rub (below) for my standard Boca Boys Rub.
There were three judges in the competition including a gentleman who beat Bobby Flay in the Jerk Throwdown, a woman who wrote the Lifestyles section of the Gleaner (major Jamaican newspaper), and Dwight Lauderdale, who did Channel 10 News. The woman from the Gleaner came up to me after the judging was over and said, “Please don’t tell anyone I said this, but you make better jerk chicken than my mother!” and Dwight Lauderdale came back eight times for seconds on the jerk lamb.
The guy who beat Bobby Flay wasn’t as impressed, but he did say that we had great flavor and lots of guts competing against folks who grew up cooking and eating jerk. We placed third overall, went home with the Bronze Pot and $250.
Below is our winning jerk rub. It comes from a recipe I pried out of chef at a jerk shack in Boston Bay, Jamaica, home of Jamaican Jerk. It took a six-pack of Red Stripe beer to get it from him and it was only after I’d sampled jerk at half a dozen other shacks that I decided his was the best flavor. That was 28 years ago and I’ve never changed anything in the recipe.
Enjoy!
If you love Jamaican food, check out some of my other Jamaican Jerk inspired recipes!
Great guest post, Ricky. I definitely have to try this rub. I saved the recipe to my computer quite a while back when you shared it on the National BBQ News Forum but just hadn’t tried it yet.
But it was fun hearing the story behind it. Does it work on a pork butt?
jim
on November 16, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Thanks so much for the recipe. I can’t wait to try it. If anyone out there is into hot sauces, check out my new hot sauce app. Here is the web address. http://www.jimsburningringoffire.com We have over 500 sauces so far.
Jim
Robyn
on November 17, 2010 at 11:00 am
Thanks for the info Jim!! I love me some hot sauce!!!
Great guest post, Ricky. I definitely have to try this rub. I saved the recipe to my computer quite a while back when you shared it on the National BBQ News Forum but just hadn’t tried it yet.
But it was fun hearing the story behind it. Does it work on a pork butt?
Thanks so much for the recipe. I can’t wait to try it. If anyone out there is into hot sauces, check out my new hot sauce app. Here is the web address. http://www.jimsburningringoffire.com We have over 500 sauces so far.
Jim
Thanks for the info Jim!! I love me some hot sauce!!!