Jamaican Jerk Chicken recipe HELP!!!!!

[Consooger]

So I had an amazing jerk chicken recipe that I had when I lived in Baltimore and when I moved I cannot find my damn recipe book. Does anyone have a really good recipe they can share that I can make to marinade for tomorrow or Monday and make for Tuesday? Hopefully I find mine because I had it perfected and I never backed it up!!!!!!  >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

John

[Ka Honu]

Try this one...

   • 2 tablespoons peanut oil
   • 1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled and minced
   • 1 or 2 Scotch bonnet chiles, minced
   • 1 teaspoon celery seeds
   • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
   • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
   • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
   • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
   • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
   • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
   • 1 tablespoon raw sugar

Stir to make a smooth paste. Spread 2 to 3 teaspoons of the paste on the skin of 8 to 10 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. Refrigerate overnight before cooking.


Or, if you want to brine first...

   • 70 g salt
   • 1 litre water
   • 1 ½ tablespoons Tabasco sauce
   • 2 tablespoons honey

Brine for about 90 minutes and pat dry with paper towels. Drizzle with a little olive or peanut oil and rub well with the jerk seasoning. Cook immediately or refrigerate overnight.

[Habanero Smoker]

Here is one that I use when I can not find Walkerswood Jerk Seasoning. If you use Walkerswood seasoning it may be too hot for most. If you can get a copy of July/August Coook's Illustrated they have an interesting recipe that they call "Real Jerk Chicken". I haven't tried it yet, but I am more interested in their grilling technique, which they add smoke by using hickory chips, allspice berries, rosemary and thyme. It may be one of their free recipes on line, so you may want to do a search.

Here is my standby Jerk recipe. I have even made it without the peppers, and the flavor is good.

Grilled Jerk Chicken

1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon lime zest
1/ 4 Cup lime juice (2 limes)
6 garlic cloves
2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 Tablespoon Orange zest
2 teaspoons marjoram
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black ground pepper
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons dry thyme
2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 one-inch piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
4 scallions, roughly chopped
1 shallots, roughly chopped
1 - 3 scotch bonnet or habañero; stemmed, quartered, ribs and seeds removed

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1  3 – 4 pound chicken, cut up into 8 pieces

Combine all ingredients except oil and chicken, in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. If the mixture is too dry and not processing well, add a little more lime juice. Once smooth continue to process as you drizzle in the oil.

Cut chicken into 8 pieces and soak in water with lemon juice for 30 minutes. Remove chicken and pat dry. Place chicken in a 9″ x 13″ baking dish and pour marinade over them; massage marinade into meat, making sure to push it under the skin. Cover chicken with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade, leaving on a coating of spice paste. Grill the chicken using indirect moderately high heat (350°F), turning often, until the skin is nicely charred and the chicken is cooked through (165°F), about 30 minutes. When done, place on a platter, and let rest for 15 minutes before serving..

Note: for larger amounts of chicken, I place the chicken in a large bowl or pot that are non-reactive. I marinade for at least 12 hours, but try for 24; and with larger batches you need to mix the chicken around often.

Depending on how hot you like it, will depend on how many chile peppers you add. I find that in mixed company many can only tolerate one pepper.

When you are making large batches, do not make more than double batch at a time. The food processor doesn't process larger amount that well.

[Consooger]

thanks guys!!!

[sjmcdowall]

I just tried the Cook's Illustrated recipe 2 weeks ago -- it was a giant hit!  See if it's free online.  One small difference is I made sure to put some of the paste UNDER the skin and on top before letting it rest (I let them go 4 hours). 

[Habanero Smoker]

The CI "Real Jamaican Jerk Chicken" recipe is only available by magazine, and to on-line subscribers.

I've been working on my recipe for some years, and it is a combination of an earlier CI recipe and a recipe found in Food & Wine, with a few of my own tweaks. After seeing CI's latest recipe, I may do a few more tweaks to mine again, such as increase the coriander and lime zest.

The smoking technique they use is 1 cup of hickory chips (soaked for 15 minutes), plus 2 tablespoons each of allspice berries, dried rosemary, dried thyme, soaked in 2 tablespoons of water for 15 minutes. Wrap in a foil packet, with wood chips on the bottom with spice mixture on top, add several vent holes.

sjmcdowall;

What chile peppers did you use, and how many?

[sjmcdowall]

I went crazy and used 3 of your namesakes !  :)  I tried a pinch of one before and they seemed like "normal" Habanero heat levels ... The slurry/paste was quite spicy, but it tamed way down after grilling ...

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks for the information. I'll try a batch at full strength, to get an idea how many to use if I make this for crowd.