I Tried Every Level of Jamaica's Food

This is every level of Jamaican food ranked one through five. Patties, jerk, curry goat, oxtail, and ackee and saltfish. And we're doing this in the capital of the Caribbean, South Florida, between Miami-Dade and Broward County. There's over 1.2 million Caribbean people. Sorry, New York. This is the true capital of the Caribbean. And we're going to start right here at Juicy Patties. This is the best patties on the planet. Let's go inside. Yeah, so we're going to get curry chicken. We're going to do the cheesy beef, spicy. And then we got to get a cocoa bread. So they got double patties. They got the box, dozen deal, non-stop, man. Yeah, we have fries, we have plantain. Oh, you have fries and plantain too? Yes, but the fries and plantain is done to order. You got a bacon, egg, and cheese patty? No, you add the bacon, egg, and cheese to any one of the patties. Can be to the beef, can be to the spicy, can be to any one of the patties. This time I'm going original. OG style, OG style. Sounds good. Thank you. This is the ultimate Jamaican debate. Who has the best patties in Jamaica? There's three different companies. Tasty, Juicy, and Mother's. Now, I'm team Juicy. Which are you? Let me know. And by the way, this is literally globalization on a plate, okay? In a bite. The patty. The story of the Caribbean. It's a story of colonialism. The English, the Spanish, the French. So English arrived in Jamaica, 17th century. They brought the Cornish pastry. Of course the Spanish brought their empanada. It evolved. And then the Maroons added their own spices. Which is what we get inside with Scotch bonnet. And they had a baby. And then the Indians basically brought the turmeric. And that's why it is this color. And that's how you get the Jamaican patty. One of my favorite things on the planet. And here you can see the crust. It's all about that golden crust. And this right here is my favorite. This is the cheesy patty. So it's cheese, minced beef, and spicy. Here we go. How to bite this? Whichever way you want. That crust. I love this. Spice level is amazing. But it's all about that golden crust, guys. Nice and flaky. Not too flaky. It's actually perfect. Wow. It is like a Cornish pastry and empanada had a baby. So for me, this is a bite of Jamaica every single time. In Jamaica, I have this for breakfast. It's just like jerk. It has become a huge phenomenon throughout the Caribbean. Not just in Jamaica, but all over. Oh, wow. It's so good. It's cheesy and meaty. So what's the modern history of the patties? Well, it was a street food snack. Everybody was eating it. It became super popular. And in the 1930s, Bruce Patties opened the first location in Kingston. And then later in the 60s, Tasty's. And then in 1970s, 78, I think it is, in Maipan, they started Juicy Patties. And then, of course, Mother's right after that. And you know what? For this one, I got something different. I'm going to show you how they do with the Cocoa Bread. This is how you make a massive sandwich. You have to try with Cocoa Bread. It is a must. So you just open this up just like that. Nice and fluffy. Cocoa Bread. So put this guy inside. Close it. And this is going to be an amazing bite. And this is the curry chicken. Okay. Oh, my God. It's like popping out. Oh, the curry. You know what I love about the bread? It's fluffy, but it does have a little bit of that cocoa taste to it. Oh, wow. This is good. Still super hot. Good taste. So much curry chicken in there. And they don't skimp out. It is full. And guys, I bit it in the center. And a lot of people are telling me that's not the right way to eat it. So what do you guys think? Eat in the center or take a bite in the tip? Anyway you eat it, it's still correct. Thank you, Jamaica. And right here we have jerk chicken. The most famous dish in the Caribbean. I've had it all over the world. In the Caribbean, Romania, the UK. It's number two on this every Jamaican levels. And it is amazing. We're here at Chef Thali. World famous here in Broward. Oh, my gosh. Look at the smoke coming out of this. The chicken. Oh, my gosh. I'm in the smoke. And right here we have the jerk ribs. Pork ribs. Obviously, we're here for the jerk chicken. But Chef Thali makes some of the best jerk ribs on the planet. Look at them. They are delicious. Sitting here in these massive smokers. What's the history of jerk? It's not just some rude guy, you jerk. So we've been cooking meats over fires for thousands of years. But in the Caribbean, the Tainos started a method where they would smoke meats over fire. They would use pimento wood. Later, the Maroons escaped slaves added scotch bonnet, a few different spices. And that's what we know today as jerk. So we make jerk chicken, jerk pork, jerk ribs, jerk fish. They do everything. And it all originated in Boston Bay, Jamaica. So just to clarify, barbecue that we know today originated in the Caribbean. Barbacoa. And the first jerk was jerk pork because they have wild hogs on the island of Jamaica. The best in town. You're famous, Chef Thali. I approve it. I approve it too. Better believe it. Enjoy. Thank you. So again, jerk is the most famous dish from the Caribbean. You know, obviously, it originates in Jamaica. But every single island has it. We've eaten it in Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Trinidad. It is all over the place. I mean, they change it, obviously, what they use. Originally with pimento wood. Here they're using some coal and they're smoking these massive vats. All right. So we're in the kitchen and this is it. They're cutting the jerk pork right there. That looks phenomenal. Look at that. Smoky, juicy, a little gelatinous. Here he's chopping the chicken. Looks so juicy. That's the white meat right here. That looks phenomenal. And right here, he's chopping up the ribs. Jerk ribs. They look so good. The world famous jerk sauce. Smells so good. Wow. Look at that, bro. It's like a flow of sauce. It's never enough. Look at that. It's so good. It turns a roster from idle food to a carnivore. It's 11.45 right now. We're in the lunch rush. You can see a line all the way to the end of the parking lot. Lots of people. There's over a million people from the Caribbean in the Miami-Dade and Broward area. So huge demand for this food. Got the jerk pork, the jerk ribs, the jerk chicken. You got festival. You have the fish over here. Lots of drinks. But we're here for the chicken. I mean, I can just watch them all day. Just chopping, chopping, chopping. Feels like I'm in Jamaica. And I'm here with the world famous Chef Tali. And Chef, my man, it's been a while. I have to ask you, what is the secret to jerk? Special thing for Jamaican because, you know, we got to season it right. Smoke it. Make sure you got your scotch bonnet pepper on it. And something that everybody loves. So these are huge smokers from Florida. What are you doing here? Well, right now, this grill is full of chicken and that's ribs. And then we have another one with more chicken again and pork and ribs again. You know, a lot of food. So you open Thursday, Friday, Saturday? Thursday, Friday, Saturday from 11 to 11. 11, 11. We're doing every level of Jamaican food. Of these five, what is your top? Patties, jerk, oxtail, curry goat, and I can't sell fish. Well, I'll say jerk for me. I knew your answer. What's second best? Curry goat. By the way, guys, I've had jerk around the world. This is number one. I've told the whole world, even Jamaica, you're number one, bro. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right, let's go eat some jerk. I am so pumped, guys. This is it. The world famous jerk chicken. Look at this. The skin already. I'm gonna start with that. Spice to perfection. Hmm, a little spicy. That's correspondent. It hits every time. Look at this piece of chicken. So juicy. Oh, as soon as you grab it. Oh, it's good. Look at that beauty. It falls off the bone. I know you don't want me to say it, but I'm gonna say it anyways. It's a jerkgasm. Oh, I'm not joking. It is so good. It melts in your mouth. Inside, super juicy, tender. The outside, that skin. God, the spices. And he was telling us that they don't got pimento wood here. What they have is pimento, like grounded pimento, and they put it into the marination. Look, guys, I have so many favorite dishes from the Caribbean. Doubles is probably up there, one of my favorites of all time. But jerk chicken is healthy. It's not crazy feeling like eating a barra. You can literally eat this whole plate. You feel good. Especially after working out and watching them smoke it right in front of me. Oh man, that crust. I told my producer Nate I was gonna take two bites. But sadly, two bites doesn't do this justice. At least a dozen bites. One thing that's amazing is that he has the gas mask behind us. Look at that. They're hard workers. And of course, we have to show you the original, the jerk pork. This is so good. It has that nice maillard effect. You see nice meat, a little bit of fat in this. It's almost like brisket. Thank you, Lord. Oh my god, when I bite into it. Definitely more meat, more dense. Incredible layer. I love that marination. And look right here. You have a little bit of that fat right there. It's almost like pork belly right there. I think it is. This rib, it almost looks like a dinosaur rib. The pork jerk rib. Oh, whoa. The smoke. I tasted smoke and I got hit with smoke. Yeah, so it has a mix here. You have a bit of the skin on top and you have the meat. You have a little bit of fat. This doesn't need any sauce. It might be level two on this list, but don't be a jerk. Come to Chef's Alley and try his jerk chicken, his jerk pork. And of course, his jerk ribs. Wow. We're doing every level of Jamaican food. And we're here at Clive's Cafe. And we're going to do number three, curry goat. Oh, my favorite. Let's go inside the kitchen. All right. Hello. Okay. Oh, that's the curry goat. And it's seasoned from overnight. Then in the day, you cook it on the fire. Perfect. Now it needed just a little bit more water, but I wanted to see what it's like. I use all fresh seasoning in there, whatever. Fantastic. So then how long is this going to take to cook? It depends on the meat. Depends on the meat. Yeah. Some meat cook fast. Some meat don't cook fast. Got it. So you see, I can't tell the exact time. Don't worry. We'll wait. I'm here to eat. It looks good. It smells great. You can see like nice pieces of meat in there. Of course, you have some bone. It is curry goat. Look at this. Amazing. The curry. Oh, you can smell the seasoning. Clive's Cafe, curry goat. And this is a tough job, huh? I can't even lift it. I'm not stirring it the right way. How am I doing wrong? Okay. I'm weak. She's saying I'm weak. Is there scotch bonnet like crazy in there? Yeah. Oh, you can see the scotch bonnet. And here we go. One of my favorite dishes of all time, the curry goat. It's very different from the Indian curry goat or mutton rogan josh. Curry goat. I'm selling the bait once and for all. It's a style of cooking, but it's also the flavors. In India, it's mutton rogan josh. In Guyana, it's goat curry. In Jamaica, it's curry goat. So what's in it? So look, as you can see in this gravy, you have mustard seeds. There's turmeric, coriander, cumin. I love this dish. I'm personally a massive fan of goat. It further sells the bait. Some people use it as a verb. Some as an adjective. Some people say like, are we currying the goat or what? I don't know. You guys let me know in the comments. I love this dish. It's amazing. Earthy. Oh, so savory. Oh, I love the gravy. A little bit of gelatinous in there. You gotta be careful. Some bones. Oh my gosh. This is heaven on a plate. And usually you pair it with some rice. So rice and peas. Maybe a bake. Maybe Johnny cake. Right now we're having it alone. It's so meaty. Oh yeah. It's also a little, a little spicy. You know, Scotch bonnet. Every level of Jamaican food, this is level three curry goat. You can't go without it. It is so delicious. I love you. All of my Jamaicans. Whoa, yo, it's heaven. I could stay here all day. You know, so a place isn't just the place, the food. It is really the people. That's all about Jamaica. So many good friends out there. Jamaica, I'll be back. All right, I'm going to just devour this dish. Leave me alone. Every level of Jamaican food. And we're here at JRK and we're doing level four. Oxtail. Oxtail is one of my favorite dishes ever. I'm excited guys. Come inside. We're going to eat. Willie, how you doing? I'm very good. I'm excited, man. I love your oxtail. So this is the oxtail right here. Look at that. Not spicy at all. So no Scotch bonnet. No Scotch bonnet. Oh man. All right. So we're going to do the oxtail and we're also going to do the jerk fried rice, which is a little spicy. Perfect. And then over here we got the oxtail. So I love the gravy. Look at that. So we got to throw some of that gravy on top of the rice. Yeah, of course. Wow. It's fire. I love the oxtail. Nice and meaty gelatinous. So we're going to definitely do some plantain. Some sweet plantain. A little sweet, a little sweet. All right, here we go. I'm so pumped. Thank you. Let's do it. Oxtail, the most expensive thing on the planet. No, seriously, the prices have risen dramatically. It's always the one, one of one that is expensive. Now, what is oxtail? Well, it's the tail of the cow and it crosses around the world. China, Italy has it. Every island in the Caribbean has it. But Jamaica does it best. You literally can go right here. You see, this is the tail, the bone. See how the meat just falls off. It's a mix of like meaty and gelatinous. And this one's not too spicy because they said they don't put, they don't put scotch bonnet. You know what? Always amazing. It's so meaty. It's like earthy, sweet, a little gelatinous. And, you know, you just go in here and literally take it off. So this used to be a throwaway cut. And now it's one of the most expensive things on the menu at any Jamaican restaurant. Oh, yeah. Hey, it's phenomenal. So good. And now we get some of that gravy and mix it in with the fried rice. Oh, yeah. Need that gravy. I actually like that it's not too spicy. Sometimes I have oxtail and it's like boiling. Just depends on where you go. You know, every dish in Jamaica has scotch bonnet. Right now, they're tamed to scotch bonnet. Oh, man. It's almost like a sweet soy sauce. So, Willie, do I eat it like this? That's the way you eat it? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Falling off the bone. Is falling off the bone. Nice and tender. Sweet. But also a little bit of that gelatinous taste to it. And I have a little bit of a bonus here. This is level six of Jamaican cuisine. This is the Red Stripe beer. This is the national beer of Jamaica. It is a Caribbean beer. Nice and crisp. Perfect for a day at the beach and quench your thirst. Also perfect to cut through the oil of the oxtail. I know it's not true, but this should be the national dish of Jamaica. And now to tie it all together, we're gonna get a sweet plantain. Or is it plantain? No, it's plantain, guys, like a mountain. Nice and sweet. It is very sweet. This together with the oxtail. Perfect combo. So meat pillow is trademarked by my good friend, Mark Wien. So I'm gonna call this a meat hammock. A jello meat hammock. Oh, and it's so sweet. Meat mattress. Yo, it's tender, it's sweet, gelatinous. I'm gonna be like eating my hands. Perfect. Every level of Jamaican cuisine, and we're at level five, which is Ackie and Saltfish, the national dish. Patties, everybody has patties. Jerk chicken, oxtail, and curry goat. You can basically find it all over the Caribbean. But Ackie and Saltfish, only in Jamaica. Here at Duke Nu, and if you ask any Jamaican, what's their favorite dish? It's usually Ackie and Saltfish. It might be my favorite dish too. And we're here with Chef Mark, my man. Yes, boss. Yes, good to see you, man. Good to see you too. Thanks for coming back. No, always, always. I love this place. Ackie and Saltfish. Is it your favorite dish? Well, that's a popular narrative. It's a breakfast dish, and people love Ackie and Saltfish. If done properly. If it's too salty, they're not gonna appreciate it. The experience is not gonna be good. Ackie and Saltfish, Ackie is bland. Saltfish has a lot of flavor. So the yin and yang approach is very important. Sorrow. It is in the hibiscus family, but it's not the one you always see on the streets. It's related to it though. I'd say it is. If marketed properly, sorrow will overtake cranberry. Yeah, I think so too. I kind of agree, yeah. I enjoy it. So guys, what do you think? Scrambled eggs? Looks like it. That's Ackie right there. The beautiful fruit, nice and tender. Chef, what are the ingredients for Ackie and Saltfish? Obviously, onions, a little bit of tomato, thyme, scallion, saltfish. Probably we put some bell pepper. Just make it look more festive. Nice. But it's not traditional. Okay. So. Perfect. But I do, you know, we try to, you know, present the food in such a manner that the taste starts with your eyes. If it looks good and it tastes good, that's a bonus for us. Love it. And by the way, this is the only place we can get Ackie and Saltfish in Miami on the weekends. Right now, we have a little bit of coconut oil that we're using. And we're going to add these here to saute. Put some of those bell peppers, now some onions. Wow, look at that. Bring onion in there. And in terms of saltfish, it's cod. Always cod, saltfish, cod. Traditionally, I've heard other people use some of that stuff, but nice that you break it up into smaller pieces. So he's cutting the scotch bonnet pepper. This is the secret ingredient in all Jamaican cooking. And you add some thyme. It's always a good time for thyme. Yeah, if there's no scotch bonnet, it's not Jamaican. Thyme, the one thing you can never get back. Let it saute for a little bit. Infuse all the spices. And then we'll add the Ackie to complete the meal. This is why our Ackie and Saltfish taste so good when you add coconut. Because we don't skimp on spices. We use all the natural ingredients that are indigenous to our country, Jamaica. And it ensures that the person that comes here gets an authentic Caribbean experience. None of that canned Ackie here. We get it from Homestead. Wow, all right. All right, so Chef's getting some black pepper. Not too much. Wow. You don't have to add salt because the fish is already salted. So it's important that when you boil it, that you take it out at the right time. So you have just a little bit of salt in the fish, but not all the salt out. If not, you're going to have to add back some salt, which doesn't make any sense. Wow, it does smell amazing. Some more, some more, some more, Scott. It really is a hot pepper. What I do sometimes is I put some coconut milk. Coconut milk, yeah. Don't tell anybody, guys. Oh, don't tell anybody. I'm a chef now. Coconut milk. Wow, yeah, definitely going to be a little juicier. I'm hired. Look at that. Beautiful. Like almost like a paste. This is ready now. It's ready? Perfect. So Chef's putting in a good two spoons of ackee. Look at that. Beautiful. Oh, wow. Make sure you make enough for all of us. Yeah, enough for all of us, all of us. Favorite means favorite for everybody. Yeah, yeah, for sure. But ackee is kind of delicate, so you don't really want to stir it. Yeah, you don't want to stir it. You don't really want to stir it too much. You just want to twist it, you know? Yeah, just mix it. Get it in there like that. It's kind of like some soft eggs. Exactly. See, it's already kind of like... I haven't even put my spoon in it yet. Wow. Yeah, you just like flip it a little bit. Get a good mix of it all in. All right, so Chef is going to drop in a... It's a little ball. Not too big, not too small. You're doing a little knot there? I want to take like a braid. It got hot right here. All right, Chef's going to plate it right now. Look into this mini bowl. Got our ackee salt fish mixed all up. Oh, it looks so good. A little scotch bonnet on top too. Wow. And he's going to put the dumpling on the side. And this is it, ackee and salt fish, my friends. Yes, with the scotch bonnet on top. Scrambled eggs with salt fish. You have the onions, the bell pepper. And here we go. It's going to be an amazing bite. Oh, you know what? That coconut milk makes it so much more juicy. Wow. Guys, this is my favorite Jamaican dish. The national dish. You know, people are a little scared about this because the fruit is actually poisonous. If you eat the fruit before it ripens, before it opens and lets out all the gases, you can get something called Jamaican vomiting syndrome. It makes you hypoglycemic, which basically you can't absorb glucose and you can go into a coma and die. Hey, I love that you added the coconut milk. Bro, it's juicy. I can notice, right? It's salty. We didn't add, it's not oily. It's not sitting a lot of oil. A lot of these people that make Akan salt fish, it's like sitting in oil and it's not the way it's supposed to be. Oil is just supposed to prevent it from sticking to the pot. Yeah. Not as part of the flavor, you know? It's amazing. Yes. It's soft. It's salty. It's a little crunchy from the onions. And for the real adventurous people, we took a little bite. Seriously? It's a little bite. That's a brave man. Is the reason it's level five. Dangerous, delicious, and amazing. Woo, it's nice and hot. You must have that yin and yang approach. Spicy with something that's passive, that is, you know, brings it down. Yeah, and I love that this is breakfast in Jamaica. Yes. Always breakfast. Can you eat this throughout the day or just, I mean, mainly breakfast? You know, today some do. Some people will come to a restaurant and ask me for ackee and saltfish. There's nothing wrong with breakfast for dinner. But there's a new trend where people are having curry chicken for breakfast. Curry chicken for breakfast? When I was growing up, we didn't have curry chicken or brown stew chicken for breakfast. Hey man, I'm blown away by this one. First time I had ackee and saltfish, I was in the Blue Mountains. I didn't even know about this dish because, you know, outside of Jamaica, you can't find it. And that was every level of Jamaican food. We started with patties, we had jerk, then we went on to the curry goat, we had oxtail and ackee and saltfish. Try it, you won't be disappointed.