This is an offshoot from my discussion with pulykamell about jerk chicken in the “What to make with a chicken” thread. I was afraid we may have been hijacking that thread a bit; plus, I think it’s just a great topic on its own!
So, to summarize, we talked about different techniques and recipes for jerk chicken; I discussed how I’ve been trying to emulate the recipe of a restaurant called Fenton’s Jamaican Jerk Chicken, which uses a 2-step process: first searing the chicken over high heart, then slow-cooking the chicken in its own juices so it’s falling off the bone tender.
Pulykamell shared his jerk marinade recipe, which is similar to mine, but wow he likes the heat, using 8-12 habanero/scotch bonnet peppers! He also shared a Serious Eats cooking technique, cooking the chicken on a bed of bay leaves using allspice berries on the coals for smoking, that looks really interesting.
I don’t want to get too specific in my OP because I’d more like to get input from others, but I’d recommend reading the exchange between pulykamell and me in the other thread to get more in-depth than my summary. Bring on your jerk techniques!
1-1/2 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 8 oz can mushrooms
1 11 oz can corn niblets (drained)
1/2 cup Jerk Sauce
4 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Salt & pepper to taste
Vegetable cooking spray
Spray a large skillet with cooking spray.
Brown meat together with onions. Drain.
Stir in Jerk Sauce, mushrooms, drained corn, salt & pepper.
Cook 2-3 minutes.
Spoon meat mixture into 9 x 12 oven proof dish.
Top with mashed potato. Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake at 375° for 20 minutes, until cheese has melted.
Nice, I was thinking more in terms of grilling, but this recipe is intriguing. This would be good to make on a cold winter day when I’m in the mood for Jamaican flavor but don’t feel like brushing the snow off the grill.
No new tips, but this thread has got me grilling jerk chicken for tonight! Gonna do it on my Weber Smokey Mountain, no water pan, on bed of bay leaves. I was flirting with the idea of perhaps using banana leaves as a “bed” for the chicken (as opposed to wrapping it up, as you normally would with banana/plantain leaves), but I’ll try it the way I’ve done it before. Jerk paste is tasting on-point today. Pretty much the same recipe as I gave in the other thread, but I went with mace instead of nutmeg, did do the ginger, and added some Worcestershire. Only 7 habaneros this time, thought.
Oh, one thing I always do is reserve some of the paste to mix in with either ketchup or barbecue sauce at the end to make a jerk-flavored sauce to go with the chicken at the table. And since we talked about pigeon peas, I looked to see what we had at my supermarket. We have both green and brown canned pigeon peas by Goya, canned green pigeon peas by La Preferida, canned brown pigeon peas by La Jibarito, and dried brown pigeon peas by Goya. Looking at recipes, it seems I should have also bought coconut milk for the rice & peas, so I may just pop out for that in a few.
Sounds good pulykamell! Let us know how it turns out. I’m thinking of doing jerk chicken this weekend. I will up my habanero usage from 1-2 in my jerk paste this time per your suggestion, but I don’t think I’ll go more than 4. My kids like it spicy, but they have their limits…
That said, I just tasted it side-by-side with the Walkerswood jerk paste, and it seems pretty much on the same heat level, if not a little less spicy. If you ever get a chance, buy yourself some Walkerswood mild, as well as hot & spicy. They’re about $5 a bottle. I can find them at my local grocery store in the same section as the hot sauces and barbecue sauces (at my store, they’re right next to each other.) I do know I’ve also seen it at Whole Foods, and Cost Plus World Market, so if your local chains don’t carry it, that’s another place to look. It’s solid stuff.
Turned out perfect, and I made some pigeon peas with rice (and corn) cooked with a bit of coconut milk to go with it. I used this recipe. Turned out quite delicious.
I used canned, cooked pigeon peas. I’m pretty sure dried ones would take more than 20 minutes to cook up, though I’ve never made them before (but they look like other dried legumes, so I assume they take some time.)
Actually, that was more like after I ate 3/4 of the chicken. I made three leg quarters and one thigh total, for myself, and then did a bunch of standard grilled chicken for my wife and kids.
I meant to ask, where do you get your bay leaves? I imagine it takes quite a few to make a bed of bay leaves for the chicken, so I know you’re not buying them by the little 2 oz. jars in the grocery spice section that contain like 6 leaves and cost like $5 a jar. I’ve gotten bay leaves by the good-sized bagful very reasonably priced at Indian grocery stores. That’s a good resource for all kinds of inexpensive spices. Never found allspice there, though.
My grocery sells them. It’s some Mexican brand that was like $3 for 2 ounces (2 oz of bay leaves is quite a bit – those little McCormick bottles are more like 1/8 oz). This is the brand. I’m not entirely sure how much a difference it made, but it seems to me to impart a delicate flavor to the chicken. This is not the first time I’ve done it – I’ve done it with pork chops before, as well, and it seemed to be a little more evident there, but I assume that because of the shape and thickness of the meat.
Allspice isn’t used all that much in Indian cooking (well, in West Indies, e.g. Jamaican, curry variants you will find it). I’m not entirely sure I’ve seen it at the various South Asian stores I’ve been here, but spice usage varies by region. Once again, I just buy the Mexican brand that comes in the big container, like the one for the bay leaves above.
As a person of Indian origin, I am careful about buying bay leaves. Stores (even Indian stores) will substitute Indian bay leaves with Bay Laurel leaves. The Indian bay leaves have longitudinal veins and add a different flavor to food. (See more at the wiki link) Bay laurel leaves are usually cheaper.
In my opinion, the Indian bay leaf gives a better flavor.
It’s Pimenta racemosa. I’ve never seen it here, as far as I know, but I wonder if “pimento leaves” as sold by pimentowood.com are the same or close enough. Allspice trees are Pimenta dioica, but things get lost or mixed-up in the translation, so I’m not sure.
So I did a grocery run today and my local store does carry cans of pigeon peas, Goya brand, in the Mexican food section. But, they were green pigeon peas, don’t know if that matters.
But the stupid store was completely out of habaneros. I always see habaneros when I’m not shopping for them but of course when I want them they are gone. I didn’t feel like hitting another grocery for habeneros so I’m out of luck for jerk this weekend.
As the Op of the previous thread I wholly endorse both the hijack and this thread!
I picked up allspice berries and bay leaves from my spice guy today. going to thaw out the chicken and marinate it. Probably make it on Sunday. And I’ll likely go with either black beans or red beans instead as I have them on-hand.
