Great for the BBQ or a simple, tasty weekend get-together

If you want punchy flavours with simplicity then jerk rump tail with charred hispi cabbage is the recipe.

Serves: 2 – 3
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 20 – 30 mins
Difficulty: easy
Ideal for: family, weekend lunch/dinner, midweek meat treat

Rump tail aka trip-tip steak

This is a lean, tender cut great for barbecues.

It’s admittedly not massively well-known in the UK.

However, you can buy it online and it’s an inexpensive cut great for searing on the grill.

Although on the day I cooked rump tail, it was raining outside so I just reverse-seared it.

And with the jerk seasoning, you’re onto a real winner.

Because rump tail is leaner than most other cuts, it is perfect when marinated for 2 or more hours before cooking.

Jerk rump tail with charred hispi cabbage

Picanha vs Rump tail (tri tip)

Don’t get confused between a picanha and rump tail.

Main differences

The picanha (pick-AHN-yah) has little marbling but a thick fat cap.
The rump tail has no fat strip.
The rump tail comes from the bottom sirloin, and the picanha comes from the top round.
The picanha has a somewhat triangular shape.
A picanha steak is often cut thicker than a rump tail.

Jerk seasoning

I came to the UK and moved to London, as you do (but stayed for 22 years).

And one of my first culinary experiences in East Dulwich and Peckham Rye was jerk chicken from a lovely wee place called Rice n’ Peas (sadly, no longer there).

This very low-key take-away hit every spicy, warm, smoky flavour that made me fall in love with jerk seasoning.

And Jamaican cooking.

Give me a festival dumpling anytime!

So, what is in jerk seasoning that makes it transform chicken, pork and beef.

Well, it goes a bit like this:

Aromatics: onion powder and garlic powder
Heat: cayenne pepper
Spices: smoked paprika, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, ground ginger
Herbs: dried parsley and dried thyme
Seasonings: salt and pepper
Sugar: light brown sugar

Homemade jerk seasoning

Ingredients

1 tbsp each of; onion powder, garlic powder, brown sugar
2-3 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp each of; smoked paprika, ground ginger, dried parsley, dried thyme, salt, black pepper
1/2 tsp each of ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg

Then mix it all together.

Where is jerk seasoning from

There are two parts to the origin.

First, is the Caribbean method of using aromatic pimento wood (which gives a bit of an allspice flavour) from local island trees to cook and smoke their food.

Then the actual method of cooking Jerk Chicken in smoking pits with native Scotch bonnet peppers, sweet allspice berries, thyme and ginger, which is credited to escaped African slaves (now referred to as Maroons) in the 1600s.

Groups of African slaves had been brought to Jamaica by both the English and Spanish to work the sugar plantations.

When they escaped, they mingled with the Taínos, who taught them the jerk way of cooking.