Jerk Chicken

Food From The Rye

I’m going to make an upfront confession, although I’m not sure how wise it really is to do so. Right, so, I got the craving for jerk chicken not from research or distant memories but, wait for it, from watching Peckham Finishing School for Girls. Now before you ask, that isn’t the kind of show I’d usually watch but it made for entertaining viewing while I recuperated from recent surgery.

Luckily Peckham dwelling Helen over at Food Stories had a superb recipe. It is pretty obvious from Helen’s superb blog that she loves Jerk.

“You could say I’m fond of jerk, but you’d be making one hell of an understatement.” Helen (Food Stories)

Hardly surprising then that her recipe worked a treat. So much better than the Momma Cherrie recipe I blogged about a couple of years ago. Helen’s recipe created, without doubt, the best jerk chicken I have ever tasted, well, ok then second best. The first? Freshly barbecued jerk chicken sat outside Mango Mamma’s (Sugarloaf Key, Florida) far too many years ago.

The term jerk is said to come from the word charqui, a Spanish term for jerked or dried meat, which eventually became jerky in English. Another origin is linked to the jerking or poking of the meat with a sharp object, producing holes which were then filled with the spice mixture. Like most Caribbean islands, Jamaican foods are derivative of many different settlement cultures, including British, Dutch, French, Spanish, East Indian, West African, Portuguese, and Chinese. The origins of jerk pork can be traced back to the pre-slavery days of the Cormantee hunters of West Africa through the Maroons, who were Jamaican slaves that escaped from the British during the invasion of 1655.

Taking heed of Helen’s most recent blog post about the Jerk Cook Off, I decided to make some ‘special sauce’ to serve alongside the blackened, sweet, hot, chicken pieces. All I did was reduce the leftover marinade (watered down a little bit) until it became thick and glossy. Unlike the saccharine gloop that Helen was subjected to, this sauce really did have kick to rival a donkey – as is only right for a dish like this.

I also served crispy sweet potato fries and, unconventionally, cooling sour cream, oh and lots of salad too.

While you’re at it do have a read of Helen’s top Jerk tips – there are some great ideas there.

Jerk Chicken

• 1.5 tablespoons allspice
• 100g dark packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 5 large spring onions
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3 scotch bonnet chillies, deseeded
• Juice of 2 large limes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Black pepper
• Chicken pieces (I used chicken breast but choose whatever you prefer)

1. Blend all the marinade ingredients together and smother over the chicken rubbing well in. (I use gloves for this, as I do when I chop the scotch bonnets.) Refrigerate overnight.
2. Allow to come to room temperature and brush off most of the excess marinade before placing in a baking tray and cooking at 190C for 30-40 minutes, or until the skin is crisp and the juices run clear. Alternatively (even better option really) barbecue the chicken.

Image Courtesy of Google Images

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into fries
• 2 teaspoons sunflower oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 22oC or the equivalent.
2. Toss the sweet potatoes in the oil and spread out onto a baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning halfway through, or until golden, tender and crisp.
3. Scatter with salt before serving.

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Tagged as: barbecue, Caribbean, caribbean islands, chicken pieces, Florida, jamaican foods, jerk, jerk chicken, marinade, meat, Peckham, Potato, Recipe, spice mixture, sugarloaf key florida, Sweet Potato, Travel