Jerk Chicken

[davidscooking]

Jerk Chicken

First of all, this resembles less a sauce than a curry paste, made with several of the ingredients that characterize Jamaican cuisine: thyme, ginger, scallions (“escallions”), allspice (“pimento”), and scotch bonnet chile (close cousin of the habanero). This recipe should make at least 2 cups. All quantities are approximate and can be varied. Jerk sauce is wonderful, but with Mr. Habanero around, subtle it ain’t. If you do two chickens, just thin the sauce with water and distribute it evenly.

• 1/4 c whole allspice berries
  
• 2 T black pepper corns
  
• 2 bay leaves
  
• 1 small onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
  
• 1 bunch of scallions, coarsely chopped
  
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
  
• 1 (for hot jerk sauce), 2 (for really hot), or 3 (extremely hot) Habanero chiles, stemmed and seeded
  
• Leaves and tender stems from a bunch of thyme, about ¼ cup
  
• 2 T grated fresh ginger
  
• 2 tsp salt
  
• 1/4 c cider vinegar or fresh squeezed lime juice
  
• 1/4 c vegetable oil
  
• Water as needed
  
• 1 or 2 chickens, backbones removed and split into halves
  
• Ketchup or pickapeppa sauce
  

Toast the allspice berries and black peppercorns until fragrant. Pulverize the allspice, black pepper, and bay leaves in a spice grinder, then add the powdered spices to the bowl of a food processor, along with the onions, scallions, garlic, chiles, thyme, ginger, salt, and the liquid ingredients. Process to a fairly smooth paste, with some small chunks, adding water and scraping down the food processor as necessary.

Reserve about ½ cup of the jerk paste to make a table sauce. Evenly distribute the remaining paste over the chicken halves, thinning with a little water if necessary, and marinate for at least an hour and up to 24 hours, refrigerated. Meanwhile, make a sauce to accompany the cooked chicken by mixing the reserved paste with 2 or 3 tablespoons of Pickapeppa sauce or ketchup. The sweetness smooths out the taste.

Cook the chicken slowly in a covered charcoal grill over indirect heat, for 1½ to 2 hours, turning and basting about every half hour with leftover marinade (most won't stick to the chicken). Tend the fire carefully; if it’s too hot, the chicken will be badly overdone given such a lengthy cooking time. Too low a fire, obviously, is a problem as well.

Keywords: Main Dish, Carribean, Intermediate, Chicken, Barbeque, Grill

( RG314 )