No matter what time of year, I look forward to grilled food several days of the week (Actually, I look forward to Dave grilling!). One of my favorite summer meals is Jerk Chicken or Pork. It can easily be made any time of year, however. The marinade is not appealing to look at – it’s a brown vegetable/spice mixture – but it does magical things to chicken or pork. It uses strong spices and hot chili peppers but also has brown sugar to soften those flavors. The brown sugar always makes the chicken burn a little bit on the grill – but that char is part of the allure to me.
The char on the chicken is significant – but it tastes pretty darned good.
I remember finding this recipe in a Food and Wine Magazine soon after Robbie was born in the mid 1990’s. I made the entire menu suggested with grilled sweet corn, a vinegar based cole slaw and delicious biscuits. I still really like it with corn – even if it’s frozen corn as we had it last week. I couldn’t find the original recipe but after looking on line I found several that are quite similar. Lime juice, soy sauce, a little oil and lots of spices round out the marinade. I usually add green pepper – or a variety of peppers to the food processed marinade depending upon what I have in my produce drawer or garden. I often freeze chopped green peppers to use in soups and sauces all winter long – and the frozen ones can easily be used for this recipe too.
The fresh ingredients for the marinade are all such a pretty shade of green!
This is one dish that I feel overnight marination is a good thing. However, it works fine with even a few hours in the marinade. The spices are so strong that the flavor seeps in pretty quickly. The marinade in the recipe is plenty to coat 6 to 7 pounds of chicken. It can easily be divided and frozen if you don’t want to cook that much meat at a time. I saved half for use with a few pork tenderloins. Freeze the marinade only in a ziplock bag – or freezer safe container – just give it a day in the fridge to defrost before marinating your protein.
Close up of a nutmeg. I think fresh grated nutmeg is way better than what you buy in a jar – but either will work.
The marinade is not so pretty but the flavors that seep into the meat are delightful!
I included instructions for grilling both on a gas grill and with charcoal. I also noted that the meat can be roasted in the oven. If you use pork tenderloin, the cooking time will vary depending upon how thick the tenderloins are. The initial browning – or charring is important. The skin on the chicken will get pretty black – but the meat underneath will be very tender and juicy. It is important to lower the heat on the grill for the remaining 25 minutes so the chicken (or pork) does not burn but cooks all the way through. Breast meat will cook a little sooner, even with the bone in.
Jerk Chicken
8 servings
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Total time 2 1/2 hrs to 24 hrs if you include marinating time.
Ingredients
For jerk marinade:
1 green pepper, chopped
3 scallions, chopped
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
4 to 5 fresh Scotch bonnet or habanero chile, stemmed and seeded, I often just use jalapeno’s but include the seeds
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons black pepper
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 Tablespoon chinese five spice powder
For chicken:
5-6 pounds chicken pieces with skin and bones, if using breasts, cut in half cross-wise. I prefer using legs and thighs for this recipe.
Instructions
Make marinade:
Blend all marinade ingredients in a blender until smooth.
Marinate and grill chicken:
Divide chicken pieces and marinade between 2 sealable plastic bags. Seal bags, pressing out excess air, then turn bags over several times to distribute marinade. Put bags of chicken in a shallow pan and marinate, chilled, turning once or twice, 1 day.
Let chicken stand at room temperature 1 hour before cooking.
To cook chicken using a charcoal grill:
Open vents on bottom of grill and on lid. Light a large chimney of charcoal briquettes (about 100) and pour them evenly over 1 side of bottom rack (you will have a double or triple layer of charcoal).
When charcoal turns grayish white and you can hold your hand 5 inches above rack for 3 to 4 seconds, sear chicken in batches on lightly oiled rack over coals until well browned on all sides, about 3 minutes per batch. Move chicken as seared to side of grill with no coals underneath, then cook, covered with lid, until cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes more.
To cook chicken using a gas grill:
Preheat burners on high, then adjust heat to moderate. Cook chicken until well browned on all sides, 15 to 20 minutes. Adjust heat to low and cook chicken, covered with lid, until cooked through, about 25 minutes more.
If you can’t grill, you can roast chicken in 2 large shallow (1-inch-deep) baking pans in upper and lower thirds of a 400°F oven, switching position of pans halfway through roasting, 40 to 45 minutes total.
Notes
This recipe is a mix of recipes found on the Food and Wine Magazine website. The original recipe I used was from the magazine around 1995. I have used several different versions. I feel that the chinese five spice powder adds a unique zing to the marinade and I replaced it with cinnamon in the most recent version I made.
Also, the marinade can be divided and frozen for use at a later date. When I made this last week we used about 3 pounds of chicken so I froze half of the marinade. It is wonderful with pork tenderloin too. 2 pork tenderloins will weight about 3# total. Cooktime will vary – but allow about 20 to 25 minutes on a medium grill.
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