The "Chitown JerkFest" started as a casual conversation between friends. One claimed to make the best jerk. The other said...Oh yeah??? What better way to settle the controversy than to have a cook-off?

A major highlight of the Chicago Caribbean JerkFest is the cook-off competition. Individuals will compete for cash, trophies and most importantly bragging rights.

A "seasoned" panel of judges will select and crown our first winner.

The Chicago Caribbean JerkFest Cooking Competition is open to all chefs professional and/or amateur.

First Come – First Serve -
Spaces limited for number of Cook Off Participants.

DEADLINE TO ENTER COOK-OFF: APRIL 1, 2009

If you are a interested participating in the Cook-Off Competition, please contact us at cookoff@chitownjerkfest.com or click on the "Jerk Cook-off" link below for application.

The History of JERK

•Jerk the term is derives from the Spanish word Charqui or jerk or dried meat, and became jerky in English. The origins of jerk pork for instance can be traced back to the Cormantee hunters of West Africa, through the Maroons - Jamaican slaves who escaped from the British during the invasion of 1655. Like many Caribbean islands, Jamaican recipes and techniques evolved as they were influenced by the many infusion of different world cultures that make up the Caribbean.

•Jamaican Jerk chicken and pork have become the defining National, Regional and International cuisine of Jamaica and the Caribbean. It is now the meal of choice for most Jamaicans and a “must have” for all visitors to the island. This international craze for Jamaican Jerk has given rise to the preponderant use of Jamaican jerk seasoning mix by many inside and outside of Jamaica. However, this method lacks the required hours of marinating and slow cooking that defines “the real thing”. The careful process of slowly smoking highly seasoned meat over a smoldering rustic pit of pimento wood and coals is known in Jamaica simply as "Jerk".

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African hunters brought as slaves to the Caribbean introduced this method of cooking meat to the island in the 1600's. It is told that they eventually added the seasoning method used by native Arawak Indians to their own. With wild boar a frequent target, they would smother the pork with a seasoning mix heavy in peppers, pimento and other spices, wrap the meat with leaves, and allow it to cook in its own juices over a lazy fire.

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•For example, five hundred years ago Europeans brought to the New World wheat, beef, onions, garlic, and a host of other food items. In a desperate attempt to preserve at least a part of their culture, African slaves brought foods that were familiar to them including okra, callaloo (a spinach-like vegetable) and ackee (a fruit that looks like a peach with a pulp that has the texture and color of scrambled eggs). Asians brought their own unique vegetables and, more importantly, they brought rice. But the flow wasn't just from the Old World to the New. Native foods, never seen in Europe, Asia, or Africa before 1492, including beans, corn, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, and, especially, the chili pepper came out of the Americas and spread throughout the Old World where they are now part of everyone's everyday diet.

•This exchange between the Old and New World has changed forever the way the people all over this planet eat. But nowhere in the world is this intricate mixing of cuisines more noticeable than in the West Indies-what we today call the Caribbean Islands.