Jerk--Cook-Off 41

[Chris Hennes]

OK, I took another stab at Jerk, using chicken this time, and the recipe from Jerk from Jamaica: Barbecue Caribbean Style. It had similar ingredients, though in vastly different proportions, to the recipe I used above: I really need to get myself down to Jamaica to see how much intra-island variation exists. For example, her recipe for the marinade-version has no citrus in it: the acid is added as cider vinegar. The bulk of the liquid in this very thick "marinade" actually comes from the onion.

Here is the result (I meant to photograph the plated version, but by the time I remembered we had already eaten it!):

In the background is a piece of Festival, also from the book. This chicken recipe is a definite keeper: the result, after 3 1/2 hours of hickory smoking, was one of the best barbeque chicken recipes I have ever had anywhere. Even the white meat was tasty! The Festival was not so successful: I do not know what the correct texture is, but I hope this was not it... it was much too dense, in my opinion.

[Daniel]

OK, I took another stab at Jerk, using chicken this time, and the recipe from Jerk from Jamaica: Barbecue Caribbean Style. It had similar ingredients, though in vastly different proportions, to the recipe I used above: I really need to get myself down to Jamaica to see how much intra-island variation exists. For example, her recipe for the marinade-version has no citrus in it: the acid is added as cider vinegar. The bulk of the liquid in this very thick "marinade" actually comes from the onion.

Here is the result (I meant to photograph the plated version, but by the time I remembered we had already eaten it!):

In the background is a piece of Festival, also from the book. This chicken recipe is a definite keeper: the result, after 3 1/2 hours of hickory smoking, was one of the best barbeque chicken recipes I have ever had anywhere. Even the white meat was tasty! The Festival was not so successful: I do not know what the correct texture is, but I hope this was not it... it was much too dense, in my opinion.

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If the festival was too dense then you probably got it right! Looks awesome Chris.. You need to get yourself some canned ackee...

I made jerk chicken the other day.. It was actually jerk cornish game hen.. I marinated it for two days and then pressed it down on a cast iron grill pan in my apartment..

Served with coconut rice.. The rice was wonderful.. Cooked the rice in the milk of a few coconuts and some red beans.. Added scallions and fresh grated coconut.. It was really good.

[Daniel]

there is a common misconception that jerk food is supposed to be chili hot,

this is false, I've been to Jamaica and had jerk in a number of places

and it was not insanely hot as many assume it to be, however they typically have hot sauces to sprinkle on

Jerk is more about the process which is not much different than bbq smoking.

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I have had jerk food in many places in Jamaica and often times it is incredibly hot.. I have also had it cooked out of garbage cans to pretty extensive grill set ups..

[Chris Amirault]

I've got two pounds of jerk lamb defrosting. The flavor should be solid, but it's likely to be dry, and would therefore benefit from some sauced or sauteed treatment. Ideas? I'm stumped.

[JAZ]

Chris, I've served jerk chicken skewers with a mango salsa, which goes well with the flavor. If you wanted more of a sauce consistency, you could puree some mango, onion, and lime juice. For seasoning, maybe allspice?

[Chris Hennes]

I made a jerk-styled BBQ sauce a couple nights ago to go with some brisket: sauteed an onion until soft, added a dry jerk rub and cooked for a minute or two, then some vinegar and oil. Pureed until smooth then simmered for a few minutes to blend the flavors. Pretty nice.

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks -- those both sound great. I think that I'll go for Chris's sauce, in which I'll toss the already-cooked lamb in chunks. Should go well with rice & peas.

[FrogPrincesse]

I made jerk chicken last weekend for a Caribbean-themed meal.

I followed Steven Raichlen's recipe from How to Grill pretty much as is, with a few minor tweaks. First, I could not find any scotch bonnets, so I used habaneros instead. We have a friend who is afraid of anything spicy, so I used only 1 instead of the 6 to 12 that the recipe called for. We could feel a light bite from the habanero but all agreed that we could increase the heat a little next time.

The other modification was to use a couple of spatchcocked chickens instead of the pork shoulder the recipe called for. I ended up cutting them up in smaller pieces as they were taking a while to cook and we were all getting hungry.

Here is the marinade. It was very rich in herbs and it was really great to have the combination of all the dried spices with the fresh herbs. I used highly fragrant allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon that I bought during a trip to St Lucia last year.

Ingredients:

1 habanero (would increase to 2 or 3 next time)

2 bunches scallions

1 small onion

6 cloves garlic

1/2 cup fresh cilantro (I used a little more, about 3/4 cup)

1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley (same as above)

2 tablespoons fresh ginger

1.5 tablespoons dried thyme (I used herbes de Provence)

1 tablespoon fresh marjoram (I skipped)

2 tablespoons ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons lime juice

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons dark rum

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons coarse salt

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

I poked little holes all over the chicken before marinating it for a few hours.

Then it was cooked on the grill. The night of the dinner with our friends I served it with rice and callaloo, but forgot to take a picture. We had some leftovers, so the next day I served it with a non-Carribbean side dish (sugar snap peas with soffrito, hot pepper and mint). The callaloo is in the little earthenware dish. It was made with fresh spinach and fresh coconut milk.

The jerk chicken was extremely flavorful even though it had marinated only for a couple of hours. I will make this dish again for sure.

Before our meal, we had El Floridita No. 1 cocktails (Gary Regan's version) with rhum agricole from Martinique, and then switched to Red Stripe beers and homemade LLB, a soda made with lemon, lime, and plenty of Angostura bitters.

[Chris Hennes]

Recovering from Thanksgiving festivities, I wanted to serve something different for dinner tonight, so a I made a batch of jerk rub from Helen Willinsky's Jerk from Jamaica: Barbecue Caribbean Style. The rub is quite spicy, with four habaneros in it, but the finished chicken (which I cooked sous vide and finished with a Searzall) was spicy but not overwhelmingly so.