Canned Ackee & Jerk Sausage
Tin Boom & Pantry Suppers
"Tin boom" is the Jamaican art of survival and swagger—taking canned goods and aggressive aromatics and transforming them into a Sunday-worthy feast on a random Tuesday night. While canned mackerel is the original template, pairing delicate, creamy canned ackee with spicy jerk sausage is a beloved, nostalgic weeknight staple for the diaspora. The only secret your grandmother would impart here is respect: once that delicate fruit hits the pan, put down the spoon and fold it gently, or you'll turn a masterpiece into mush.
Before you start
Treat the canned ackee with extreme care.
Drain the can gently in a colander and rinse it with hot water to remove the excess sodium and canning liquid. Handle it like fragile glass so it retains its beautiful shape.
Ingredients
- vegetable oil2 tbsp
- jerk sausage14 oz
- canned ackee19 oz
- yellow onion1 med
- scallions2 med
- red bell pepper1/2 med
- green bell pepper1/2 med
- garlic cloves3 med
- scotch bonnet pepper1 med
- fresh thyme1 tsp
- allspice berries1/4 tsp
- black pepper1/2 tsp
Method
- 01
Brown the sausage over medium-high heat until the spicy oils release into the pan.
Place a large, wide skillet over medium-high heat with the oil. Toss in the sliced sausage and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes. Let the fat render out—this spicy, seasoned oil is the foundation that will coat and flavor your aromatics.
- 02
Bloom the onions and peppers in the rendered fat.
Drop the heat to medium and add the chopped onion, scallions, and bell peppers to the skillet. Sauté for about 3 minutes until the onions soften and begin to turn translucent.
- 03
Add the high-note aromatics and sauté for exactly one minute.
Stir in the minced garlic, fresh thyme, crushed allspice, and the whole scotch bonnet pepper. You want to smell the garlic blooming immediately, but do not let it brown or turn bitter.
- 04
Add the ackee and fold it gently just once or twice.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the drained ackee, and sprinkle evenly with black pepper. Using a wide spatula, gently scoop from the bottom and fold the mixture over itself. Do not stir, or the delicate arils will disintegrate.
- 05
Cover and simmer to let the flavors marry.
Put a lid on the skillet and let it simmer for 3 to 5 minutes to warm the fully-cooked ackee through and let the jerk, thyme, and allium vapors permeate the fruit. Remove the scotch bonnet before serving.
Notes
Navigating the jerk sausage.
If you can't find pre-made jerk sausage at your local market, a brilliant weeknight hack is to buy raw Italian sausages, remove them from their casings or slice them, and toss with a tablespoon of wet Jamaican jerk paste before frying.
Controlling the scotch bonnet heat.
Tossing the pepper in whole imparts its unmistakable, fruity-floral aroma into the oil without blowing your head off. If you want the aggressive heat, mince half of it and discard the seeds, but remember to fish the whole pepper out if you left it intact so nobody gets an unwelcome surprise.
The mandatory cooked food.
In Jamaica, ackee requires a starchy vehicle to sop up that magnificent seasoned oil. If you can't source traditional yellow yam or boil green bananas, thick slices of crusty Italian loaf, boiled white rice, or simple boiled flour dumplings work perfectly.
From Cook Jamaican in America.