Jerk cooking began in Jamaica and has spread throughout the Caribbean. Its seasoning — often called Jamaican jerk seasoning — can be wet or dry, and usually combines chile peppers, garlic, onion, warm spices such as allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and pepper, plus herbs like thyme. The traditional method calls for marinating the meat in those spices, then cooking it slowly over hot coals on green pimiento wood.
This version came out of a family visit to Grand Cayman Island, where Chef Luigi Moacsin, one of the masters of the craft, shared his approach. It borrows from the original while staying workable on an ordinary outdoor grill or, indoors, in a grill pan.
Info
- Cook time: 1 hour
- Total time: 9 hours 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 10 seasoning peppers, or mini multicolored bell peppers
- 2 to 3 Scotch bonnet peppers (as many as 6 if you want more heat)
- 8 cloves garlic
- 2 bunches scallions, chopped
- 1/2 cup ground allspice
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon whole allspice berries
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup orange juice or pineapple juice (fresh is great; bottled works too)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more if needed
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Kosher salt
- One 5- to 6-pound chicken, quartered into leg/thigh and breast/wing pieces
- Vegetable oil, for greasing the grates
- Sliced hard dough bread or white bread, for serving
- Ketchup, for serving
Instructions
- Put the seasoning peppers, Scotch bonnets, garlic and scallions in a food processor and pulse until chunky. Add the ground allspice, brown sugar, thyme, allspice berries, cinnamon and nutmeg, and process again. Pour in the juice, olive oil, soy sauce and black pepper, add 1 tablespoon salt, and process to a thick paste that clings to the back of a spoon. If it turns out too thick, loosen it with a little more soy sauce.
- Spread half the paste over the bottom of a large shallow dish with a lid. Lay the chicken on top, then coat it with the rest of the paste, working it over every piece. Cover and refrigerate overnight, and for no longer than 24 hours.
- Set up the grill with two zones: one hot and one with no heat. A charcoal grill works well, as does a gas grill with one burner switched off.
- Coat the grill grates generously with vegetable oil. Arrange the chicken skin-side up on the cooler zone and put the lid on.
- Cook with the lid closed, turning the pieces every 10 minutes so they spend even time near the hot zone. The breasts need 40 to 45 minutes, until they reach 165 degrees F, and the thighs 30 to 35 minutes, until they reach 170 degrees F. Then shift the chicken to the hot zone, turn it skin-side down, and grill 6 to 8 minutes more, until the skin is charred and crisp.
- Bring it to the table right away, with white bread straight from the bag — or hard dough bread if you can get it — and ketchup for dipping.
Indoor option
To cook indoors, set a double-burner cast-iron grill pan over low heat. Add the chicken, cover it with a large inverted metal bowl, and raise the heat before flipping so the skin chars and crisps.
