Jerk Chicken - Apple or Cherry?

[justwandr]

I am a big fan of Jerk Chicken which is just a more spicy version of BBQ. The Skin comes out very dark brown as if it was burned. I haven't seen any topics within the forum discussing Jerk Chicken so I thought I ask the question which flavor smoke would be best.

It seems Cherry and Apple are the preferred smoke flavors for Chicken. I will be doing quarter legs I like to know what everyone thinks is the right temperature and the type of smoke that would best and roughly how long should chicken be smoked for before it is too much.

I am pretty new at this. So any help is good help I guess.

[FLBentRider]

How much smoke is a very subjective (taste) thing.

Poultry takes smoke in very easily - I would start with 2 hours unless you like it strong.

I like Hickory on chicken, but Apple and Cherry are good too.


I would run the smoker @250F until you get to 165F in the breast - 3 or 4 hours depending on the load in the smoker and your ambient temps/wind.

[Caneyscud]

FLBR has ya with the temp and time.  Leg quarters do very well on a smoker.  The higher temps than normal for low-n-slow is to have a crispier skin.  As far as smoking woods - I believe Pimento (whatever that is) is the supposedly "authentic" wood.  Never seen any pimento pucks though!  To mix well with the huge flavors of the jerk marinade, I usually go with what would normally be a heavier smoke - hickory, pecan, even the messywood!

More often than not, unless I have a big load, the quarters usually take closer to 3 hours.  This is one time a instant read digital thermometer is handy.  You can check each piece and take it out when each is done. 

[jiggerjams]

Hello Everyone,

I too am a newbie to the site. I have actually been doing a lot of reading and admiring on the site till this point as I am saving my money to buy my own BS. Enough about that though.

Like FLB, I am a fan of hickory with chicken and or pork, especially with jerk seasoning. The wood will stand up to the seasoning. Steve Raichlen has a killer home made authentic jerk seasoning in his "The Barbeque Bible" book if you have access to it. All natural ingredients to make a very flavorful paste.

To touch on Pimento, it is the plant of the all spice berry (looks like a larger version of a pepper corn). I have only used smoke boxes on my grill to smoke at this point, but when jerking pork I would soak all spice berries for an hour to simulate the pimento wood. Another tip from The Barbeque Bible.

I hope this helps.
Man I can hardly wait to get my own BS....seriously.

All the Best
JJ

[Caneyscud]

Thank you for the information Jiggerjam.  And welcome to posting on the forum!  It can be as addicting as barbecue is! 

I had no idea of what pimento wood was.  I've seen chips for sale a couple of places and have thought about buying some.  The place was named Pimento Wood or something like that..........................yep just googled it- www.pimentowood.com

[jiggerjams]

Yep that looks like what I though it would look like. The plant itself is a bush so it makes sense that the link you provided (thanks!) shows wood that looks limb size size.

Pimento Berry (aka Allspice Berry) is also used in baking. A usual combination is to be paired up with nutmeg and clove and sometimes cardamom.

Thanks for the welcoming Caneyscud it feels great to be here and able to contribute.

JJ

[classicrockgriller]

JJ would like to hear what you know about cardamon.

Thanks for sharing!

[jiggerjams]

Hey CRK and all,

I have tasted it in baking but have not played with the spice myself. Personally I find it strong so if you want to try it I suggest to use sparingly as a backgorund flavor. But that is just me. It has a flavor that would work with allspice, nutneg, clove or cinnimon. It is harvested in India and Malaysia and is known to be used in curries. I have only tasted it in baking and I personally don't take to it so much but this could be due to over use?

Apparently the spice is expensive and is reccommeded to buy in pod (seed) form as the pre ground is not suppose to keep it's flavor very well. When I shop for spice I frequent Indian and/or Asian markets or stores first. I find items such as garlic, ginger, lemons, limes, herbs such as cilantro and parsley, lots of PEPPERS, spices etc. are priced a lot lower and the quality is generally superior. I live in Ontario Canada but an example of what I mean is I recently puchased 6 lemons for $1, eight crowns of broccoli for $1, 10 heads of garlic for $1 etc. If you have access to an Indian market or store give it a try for your spices if you have not already. Great quality, low prices. Ground mustard...16 ounces or 170 grams for $2.25 as an example. I buy my black pepper, paprikas', coriander, ground chili pepper, mustards be it ground or yellow, brown, or black seeds, etc. at these stores. Sorry to get away from Cardamom for a bit but I felt there was some benefits to sharing this while I remembered it. It may be differnet in the USA.

So all in all if you want to try Cardamom buy the green cardamom and buy pod form if possible and grind your own. Use sparingly or touch the ground spice to your tongue or taste a small piece and see what you think. Maybe you can get an opportunity to do this before you buy at the market or store as cardamom is suppose to have a higher cost attached to it. I would ask the store owner if  they could provide a sample before you buy.

OH just remembered,  Wrigley's ('Eclipse exotic Breeze') gum states "with Cardamom to neutralize the toughest breath odours". If you can find that gum you could start there also. Maybe other gums contain the spice. I would still try to taste it on it's own though and let it speak for itself.

I hope this helps.

Definitely keeping it stoked today. Only 8C

JJ