Caribbean Recipe Of The Week – Homemade Jerk Chicken

By Minna LaFortune

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Dec. 2, 2016: One of the things I like about Jerk chicken and Jerk pork is they are always satisfying when served with rice and peas and steam vegetables.

They are especially satisfying if they are prepared with care and the jerk seasoning can be tasted in every strand of meat and in the bones of the chicken or pork. To achieve this satisfying consistency, the chefs who are known for their great jerk chicken and jerk pork – especially in the Caribbean Diaspora – have to work on the combinations of spices and be consistent in their method of preparations and cooking.

I am still trying to perfect my jerk chicken and jerk pork recipes. The process I have come to accept is not easy, because I am living outside of Jamaica, where jerk seasoning and jerk meats originated utilizing specific ingredients and pimento wood for adding flavor and for smoking the meats.

Jamaica has made jerk popular throughout the world so it is a challenge for a chef/cook in the Diaspora to capture and perfect the authentic Jamaican jerk. Practice therefore becomes imperative.

Today I will share with you my recipe for homemade jerk chicken that I have perfected over time.

Ingredients

6 lbs chicken legs and thighs

Salt to taste

5Tbs dry jerk seasoning

1 bottle wet jerk seasoning

1/4 cup soya sauce

1 small scotch bonnet pepper

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1tsp all spice

1doz pimento seeds

2 cloves crushed garlic

Method

Clean chicken and wash with lemon.

Put washed chicken in a bowl.

Add all the ingredients.

With your hand, mix all the ingredients and ensure each piece of chicken is covered.

Put all the seasoned chicken in a zip lock bag to marinate in the refrigerator for one day.

Remove from the refrigerator and put seasoned chicken in the zip lock bag in the freezer for one week.

After a week, remove chicken from the freezer and allow the seasoned chicken to thaw at room temperature.

After chicken is fully thawed, bake chicken in gas or electric oven or grill on a charcoal grill, the weather permitting.

Serve with Rice and peas, boiled plantain, steam cabbage and carrots.

Bon Appetite!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Minna LaFortune is a trained Caribbean caterer and also president, Society for the Advancement of the Caribbean Diaspora (SACD). Check out her food group on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/bestfoodscaribbean/