Jerk Chicken

I love jerk!

Wait…

What did he just say?

He loves jerks?

No silly… jerk, as in Jamaican jerk seasonings!

Jerk is basically a rub or sauce that has warmth from allspice, cinnamon & nutmeg and heat from habanero or scotch bonnet peppers

My wife and I spent our honeymoon in Jamaica (this was a long, long time ago) and we were blown away with the flavors of all the food we ate

We wanted to recreate the delicious flavors that we experienced in our own kitchen

Let’s start with a jerk sauce

I’m going to break this out into steps so let’s start with the dry ingredients

We will need 4 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of allspice berries (or ground allspice), 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg

If using ground allspice you can move to the next step but since I have these beautiful allspice berries I’m going to grind them up

The difference is your going to get a lot more flavor from the whole spice

I have placed them in a spice grinder and gave them a whirl but you can crush them in a mortar and pestle as well

Place all the spices into a blender and then grate around 1/2 teaspoon of fresh nutmeg in there as well

Next up are the vegetables

We will need 1 scallion, 4 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger, 1 habanero pepper (or 2 depending on your heat tolerance) and fresh thyme

Let’s discuss the habanero peppers

THEY ARE HOT!

So I recommend handling them with rubber gloves

Once you cut them up, wash everything (knives, cutting boards, etc)  and throw away the gloves

This will surely save your eyes as well as other areas

We are using only 1 here which will provide heat but not be overboard

We are going to remove the seeds and ribs which hold most of the heat (we want some heat but more flavor)

Chop the pepper, cut the garlic, peel and cut the ginger, cut the scallions and remove the thyme leaves from the stems

Add these to the blender

Next, let’s get together the wet ingredients

We will need 1/2 cup of canola oil, the juice and zest of 1 lime, 4 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

Add these to the blender

Blend until smooth and set aside

Time to talk chicken

We have 8 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs

Trim any excess fat and skin off the chicken

Place them back in the dish skin side down so we can flavor the bottom

Put a tablespoon of jerk sauce on each thigh

And brush it on

Flip and repeat (you can add a bit more than a tablespoon if needed)

Brush away!

Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight (recommended)

Remove from the refrigerator and allow to come up to room temperature

The burners on my grill run left to right

I decided to cook these low and slow so I turned the left burner on at medium and the middle and right burner off

I’m placing the chicken on the right side for slow and indirect cooking

Let this first pass go for 30 minutes

Starting to look good

Baste the chicken with some more jerk sauce

Cook for another 20 minutes

We’re seeing some good color here now

Time to flip

We want the bottom to get some air time and the top to get some crisp

Cook for 15 minutes

Flip again and apply another baste of jerk sauce

Cook another 15 to 20 minutes

Remove from the grill, sprinkle with kosher salt and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes

Serve with some lime wedges and dig in!!!!

Enjoy!!!

Wilton Recipe Right 3 Piece Cookie Pan Set

Architec Gripperwood Cutting Board

Nutri Ninja Mega 1500 Watts Kitchen System, Blending and Food Processing, Auto-iQ Technology

ZELITE INFINITY Santoku Knife

Mini Prep Glass Bowl

Pyrex Basics Clear Oblong Glass Baking Dishes

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