Jerk is a style of cooking that originates from the island of Jamaica. In this style of cooking a mixture of hot spices, known as "Jamaican jerk spice" is dry-rubbed into meat, before cooking. Traditionally goat or pork is used, but other meats (or even fish), can be substituted, and for many non-Jamaicans the most familiar jerk dish is in fact jerk chicken.
Jerk spice is mostly a mixture of Jamaican pimento and Scotch bonnet peppers, but small amounts of other spices are added to the mixture as well, and these normally include cinnamon, cloves, garlic, nutmeg, scallions, and thyme. Some people prefer to make their own jerk spice mix, but today of course you also have the option of buying ready-made seasoning mixes, and indeed many people find these very tasty.
The word "jerk" (as well as the word "jerky") derives from the word "charqui", which in the Quechua native American language, means "dried meat". This is because historically jerk meat was prepared by cutting the meat into strips, and drying these in the sun over a small fire - the smoke from the fire preventing flies and other insects laying their eggs in the meat, and also helps to preserve it.
Nowadays, jerk dishes are generally not prepared by smoking by instead over a barbecue grill, or even in a normal kitchen oven. Many people believe that jerk dishes taste best when cooked on a wood or charcoal grill - and some would even suggest placing some pimento wood or berries on the coals when cooking in order to add the flavor. In any case, if you have never tried jerk before, I'd suggest you give it a go - you won't know whether you like it, until you've tried it.
