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Meat: lamb, pork, veal

INGREDIENTS (MAKES ABOUT 1/3 CUP)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon dried thyme

2 teaspoons ground allspice

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground Scotch bonnet, habanero, or other super-hot chile

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all of the ingredients.

2. Use as directed in a recipe; can be stored in a tightly closed container for up to 1 month.

Jerk Wet Paste

Here’s another style of jerk seasoning: a wet paste made with ground spices plus a healthy dose of fresh chiles, scallions, garlic, ginger, and lime. Use this wet mixture on lean foods like chicken to help them retain more moisture on the grill.

TIMING

Prep: 15 minutes

SHORTCUT

• Replace the jerk paste with 2 cups of your favorite store-bought jerk marinade. Or use ¼ cup of Jerk Rub (previous recipe) or store-bought dry jerk seasoning (available in the spice aisle of most grocery stores) mixed with the brown sugar, oil, soy sauce, lime juice, and rum called for in the recipe.

TIP

• This jerk paste is smoking hot from the Scotch bonnet chiles. If you want even more heat, include the seeds. Capsaicin, the heat-producing oil in chile peppers, tends to concentrate in the seeds and ribs of chile peppers. To avoid getting the hot chile oil on your skin, wear kitchen gloves when chopping. This is especially important if you wear contact lenses, since the hot oil can be extremely painful if it touches your eyes. Another option: Skip the gloves and hold the chile by its stem. Cut the pepper flesh off the core and chop the flesh with your knife, never touching the cut part of the chile with your hands.

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GOOD WITH

Seafood: any fish or shellfish

Poultry: chicken, turkey, game hen, duck

Meat: lamb, pork, veal

Other: tofu

INGREDIENTS (MAKES ABOUT 2½ CUPS)

12 scallions, trimmed and coarsely chopped

3 to 10 Scotch bonnet chiles, seeded and coarsely chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped peeled gingerroot

1/3 cup fresh thyme leaves

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon dark rum

DIRECTIONS

1. Put the scallions, Scotch bonnet chiles, garlic, ginger, thyme, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander, salt, and black pepper in a food processor. Process to a rough paste, about 20 seconds. Add the oil, soy sauce, lime juice, and rum, and process to a loose paste, about 20 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl, if necessary.

2. Use as directed in a recipe; can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

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TIMING

Prep: 5 minutes

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Smoked Salt Rub

To make this rub, we first tried smoking salt ourselves on the grill. But we couldn’t get sufficient smoke flavor into the salt to make the process worthwhile. Plus, richly aromatic smoked salt is available commercially, so why reinvent the wheel? Our favorite commercial smoked salt is Danish Viking smoked salt. The crystals are chunky, moist, and overwhelmingly smoky. But it is expensive. Fortunately, the smoke flavor is so strong that you can mix this smoked salt with kosher salt to make the smoked salt last longer in your cupboard.

GOOD WITH

Seafood: any fish or shellfish

Poultry: any poultry

Meat: lamb, pork, veal

INGREDIENTS (MAKES ABOUT ½ CUP)

2 tablespoons smoked salt

2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all of the ingredients.

2. Use as directed in a recipe; can be stored in a tightly closed container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

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TIMING

Prep: 5 minutes

GETTING CREATIVE

• Team this rub