Jerk Chicken

Jerk Chicken, otherwise known as "Rob" Chicken....jk! Let's see how long it takes for him to notice.
As I was saying, Jerk Chicken and other "jerked" dishes are very common to Caribbean cultures, especially Jamaican. In the traditional Jamaican preparation, spices, including the exceedingly hot Scotch Bonnet Pepper, are dry-rubbed into the meat and the chicken, pork, or what-have-you is slow smoked. I'm not an expert, of course, but I did modify and put together a delicious recipe that represents the flavor of Jerk seasoning very well. It's also an easy dish to prepare. The seasoning and sauce can be made the previous day and the chicken can marinate overnight. When you're ready to start dinner, just pop the entire dish into the oven and you're good to go. I usually do the sauce and marinade just before bed, when I'm too tired to continue writing my dissertation...

Jerk Chicken
time: 15 minutes prep (previous night); 50 minutes oven
servings: one batch of spices will cover about 10 medium chicken legs

3 tablespoons dark rum
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup malt vinegar (or 1/3 cup cider vinegar)
10 green onions, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons dried thyme
1 Serrano pepper with seeds (or a habanero if you enjoy fire)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 teaspoons ground allspice
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar

1 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons soy sauce
10 chicken legs (approximate)
1/4 to 1/3 cup fresh lime juice

Boil rum and 2 tablespoons water in small pan for 2-3 minutes. Add the boiled rum mixture to blender; add vinegar and next 12 ingredients and blend until nearly smooth. Remove 2 tablespoons of the blended seasoning to a small bowl and then mix in ketchup and soy sauce to make sauce. Sauce can be made 1 day ahead, refrigerate.

Place chicken in large roasting pan or oven-proof baking dish. Pour lime juice over and make sure all sides of the legs are coated. Spoon the remaining jerk seasoning over chicken and rub into meat, covering all surfaces. Cover the dish and refrigerate at least 4 hours, or as long as 1 day ahead (basically from the night before you plan to cook it).

When you're ready to cook the chicken, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake until chicken is cooked through and juices are clear when you cut into the thickest part of the meat, about 50 minutes (internal temperature at least 170 degrees). Make sure to serve the jerk sauce (the ketchup mix) along with the chicken!



These would probably be nice on the grill, too!