Jerk

Jenise's thread about rice and beans made me remember some of the greatest meals I had in my college years in Chicago - inexpensive takeout from a couple of small Jamaican and Trinidadian restaurants in the south side with beans and rice, homemade bread, occasionally sweet potatoes and some absolutely explosive jerk chicken with an accompanying sauce that would leave one sweating from the sheer heat of the flavours and still wanting more.

Jerk chicken or pork are among my favourite items - but unfortunately not dishes that are easy to find (especially when made well) out in New England.

Does anyone have any recipes they could share - either for a good dry jerk seasoning, jerk sauce or the full walkthrough for jerk chicken? It's something I'm very keen on learning to make, especially with the weather getting warmer and the grill ready to be dusted off.

This is Chris Schlesinger's recipe for Jerk Chicken from his book "The Thrill of the Grill".

Jerk rub:
10 habanero or scotch bonnet chiles, stems removed and roughly chopped
2 TBS dried rosemary
2 TBS chopped parsley
2 TBS dried basil
2 TBS dried thyme
2 TBS mustard seeds
3 scallions, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup cheap yellow mustard
2 TBS orange juice
2 TBS white vinegar

6 chicken thighs with legs attached

1. Puree all of the rub ingredients together in a food processor or blender to form a paste with the consistency of thick tomato sauce. Add more white vinegar if it is too thick. Cover the paste and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. This can be made well ahead, as it keeps almost indefinitely.

2. Rub the chicken pieces with the paste and place them on the grill over very low heat. Cook about 1 hour without a cover or 1/2 hour if the grill is covered. The key is to use very low heat. The chicken is done when the meat is opaque and the juices run clear, but ideally you want to go 10-15 minutes past this point until the meat pulls easily off the bone.

Notes

Cheap yellow mustard works better here than Dijon or gourmet-type mustards.

The key is to grill over very low heat to avoid burning the paste.

Schlesinger prefers using chicken thighs/legs here because the center bone means that they can withstand long grilling and still be juicy.

Inner Beauty hot sauce (see the recipe I've posted elsewhere) can be used as a jerk rub, or serve it on the side if the jerk chicken isn't hot enough for you.

-Paul W.

I'd love to try this jerk rub, but if I made it, I'd have to eat it all myself. Nobody else in the household will touch anything with habanero, or anything much hotter than a jalepeno for that matter.

Nobody else in the household will touch anything with habanero, or anything much hotter than a jalepeno for that matter.

Wimps.

Thanks Paul! Just need to get hold of some good quality habaneros - hopefully in the next couple of days - and I'll try this.

Here's the recipe for our jerk sauce, made to approximate the jerk chicken we'd had at Carmen and Family Jamaican BBQ in Berkeley many moons ago.

Jerk paste:

2 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp ground allspice
1 Tbsp cayenne
1 Tbsp black pepper
4 Tbsp fresh sage leaves
4 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp minced onion
5-6 fresh habaneros or Scotch bonnets
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil
6 Tbsp lime juice

Combine herbs, garlic, onion, chili peppers with wet ingredients and purée. Fold into dry ingredients and mix together to create a thick paste. This makes enough for 1-2 whole chickens. Apply the jerk paste by putting it under the skin of a whole chicken. Additionally, make incisions along the bones with a knife and pack with jerk paste. Mesquite smoke the chicken.

Mark Lipton