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Jamaican jerk king writes cookbook

Manchester Evening News
Thursday, September 29, 2005
www.manchesteronline.co.uk

CARIBBEAN TASTE TO THEIR PORRIDGE
by Patricia Roberts

Spending time in prison isn't exactly the spice of life. But the restaurant at Salford's Forest Bank prison is currying favour with its inmates. The captive audience is being treated by Vernon's restaurant which has teamed up with the prison to introduce flavours of Jamaica to their menu.

The initiative has been so successful that Vernon's is now hoping it will be taken up by other prisons. And Pete Vernon, who runs the restaurant on Rusholme's Curry Mile, is in talks with prison catering chiefs.

And he hopes the recipe for success will be rolled out first across other prisons in the north west and then nationwide. The original Vernon's restaurant was opened by his father Allan in New York, when he spotted a gap in the market for the Jamaican style "Jerk" cooking, which quickly attracted praise and fans like Bill Cosby. Traditional Jamaican cuisine consists of many blends of spicy seasoning, which are liberally massaged into various meats and left to marinate for up to two days.

One of these is called "jerk" a name thought to derive from Charqui, a word used by Jamaica's original inhabitant, the Arawak Indians. Before long he began bottling his own jerk sauce - which is combined with oven baking and charcoal grilling to create an authentic flavour of the Caribbean.

Vernon's sauce is made from a blend of ingredients including Jamaican Scotch Bonnet peppers, and other authentic Jamaican spices and the Manchester restaurant, which opened last year is aiming to claim the number one spot in the UK for authentic Jamaican cooking sauces. The company was delighted to be approached for help in the prison project.

"It is a very forward-thinking initiative. Forest Bank was looking to broaden the range of ethnic cuisine, but had to keep within a budget," says Pete. Prison chefs visited Vernon's restaurant for on-site training to learn more about the background and culture of Caribbean cuisine, which led to the introduction of the "jerk" food on the prison menu.

The sauce is manufactured for the restaurant by Middleton-based Seasoners and available through some retail outlets, and Pete is now in talks to supply some of the big supermarket chains. The business is also looking to expand, with the opening of other restaurants and extending its sauce manufacturing.

"We have the flair and expertise to do it, and are now looking for partnerships, distribution and investment," says Pete.