Jerk

I made a jerk chicken today with 10 Foodarama yellow scotch bonnets. This was my first time making Jerk from scratch.

I washed the chicken with vinegar and water, made cuts through the chicken, and then used this marinade. https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/jerk-chicken

I smoked the chicken on my Big Green Egg, indirect at 275 with half a handful of cherry wood chips. I started the dark meat 45 minutes before throwing on the breasts. Cooked until the breasts were done and then removed all of the chicken. We used some the remaining jerk marinade to season some red beans, and I ate the beans with quinoa.

The beans and chicken were very good. The low temperature cook resulted in tender flavorful chicken. I am going to stick with 275 indirect for now on with chicken as opposed to the hotter temperatures I have used in the past.

I had a hard time deciding which recipe to use for the marinade. There are so many to chose from. This one was good; better than the jars of Walkerswood that I have used in the past. Now I will need to decide if I want to stick with this recipe or experiment with others.

I like to make Jerk pork ribs. Ribs were my favorite thing to make with the Walkerswood. I am excited to try ribs sometime with this homemade Jerk marinade.

Im going to marinate a couple of Cornish hens tonight with the remaining Jerk and smoke those tomorrow.

Of note, these Scotch bonnets are mild compared to an orange habanero. Even with 10 peppers in this, the chicken was only mildly to moderately hot.

 

[Ashen]

That looks good..

That recipe BA got from the ultimate jerk centre , Jamaica , hits all the right major notes.

Scotch bonnet, thyme, scallions, allspice, salty from the salt and maggi.

I would just start riffing on that base, which is what most Jamaicans do. Every family has their own unique blend , kind of like how Indian households have their unique blends of dry or wet masala . that makes sense considering how large an influence Indian cuisine has on caribbean cooking.

Add in, switch out ,whatever until you have a unique version you love.

Personally ,when I make my own it always has dark Jamaican rum in it.

Not a huge fan of the cinnamon in that version , so I would bump up the allspice and add a pinch of nutmeg or mace instead.

Might switch my favourite soy sauce for the maggi, give it a bit of funk from a dash of fish sauce.

You get the idea ,it is meant to be personalized around that core flavour profile.

 

[spicy.curry]

Cornish hens might have been even better than the chicken. Delicious and fun to eat. Had them tonight with with red beans and Jollof rice.

Jollof rice paired well with the jerk. Jollof rice is new dish for me. I made the Jollof rice with two red foodarama scotch bonnets. Maybe next time I will add some Trinidad pimento peppers to the rice for additional flavor.

Recipe was easy.
https://www.africanbites.com/jellof-riceoven-baked/

 

[The Hot Pepper]

killer

 

[spicy.curry]

Has anyone done a Jerk turkey?  I may try that for Thanksgiving.  I could inject the turkey meat with the marinade for a more intense flavor. 
 
Injecting the meat might be an idea for me to try with chicken as well. 

 

[spicy.curry]

Last week, I compared Bahamian goat pepper with Foodarama yellow scotch bonnet, by making jerk cornish hens with each pepper type, and then tasting side by side.  We had 6 tasters.
 
I first made my jerk marinade in the blender, but without any peppers.  I then divided the marinade in half, added peppers, and blended into two separate batches.  Each batch had 6 peppers.
 
Taste: Both types of pepper had an excellent flavor which paired very well with the other jerk spices on the hens.  Both peppers scored equally for flavor. 
Heat: Goat pepper had more heat, which was preferred by the tasters.
Overall winner:  Goat pepper.
 
We will do a jerk comparison rematch with these two peppers in the future, and also do comparisons with some of the other pepper varieties I am growing this year.  I will add more of the yellow scotch bonnet peppers next time, hoping to get a higher heat level and perhaps more flavor.
 
NOTE: Bahamian goat peppers were freshly picked.  Foodarama yellow scotch bonnet were frozen from last year.  I should have fresh scotch bonnets later this summer for a more fair comparison.