# How to make (mild) jerk chicken?



## jemo (Sep 28, 2005)

I LOVE jerk chicken and am wondering how to make it.  I've tried buying the jerk sauce before at an ethnic store and marinating the chicken in it but it was like eating fire.

How do you get that great flavor but not have it so spicy?


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## jennyema (Sep 28, 2005)

Jerk paste is really easy to make. 

It's scallions, allspice, thyme, garlic, habernaro or scotch bonnet pepper, black pepper, a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg, some lime juice, salt and a little oil.

Some people add onion, shallot, ginger, sugar, soy sauce and other stuff.

But the basic way to reduce the heat is to cut back on the hot pepper. Make it with one or even 1/2 of one. But it won't tatse the same without it. Remove the seeds and ribs to lessen heat.

There are bazillions of recipes through google. I think the best are on *Pepperfool.com.* 

Peruse them and pick one and cut down on the Hab or Scotch Bonnet quantity.


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## foodaholic (Sep 28, 2005)

Here's a recipe for you,and you can add, ginger, cloves,and regular yellow onion to this recipe to help
create different variations.What makes it authentic is the allspice berries and the scotch bonnets.You can substitute other hot peppers but it won't taste the same and as Jenny says remove the seeds and veins and use less pepper.
You want to rub this into the chicken and let sit overnight and cook over charcoal if possible with a low flame.

1/2 cup ground allspice berries 
1/2+ cup packed brown sugar 
6 to 8 garlic cloves 
4 to 6 Scotch bonnet peppers 
1 tablespoon ground thyme or 2 tablespoons thyme leaves 
2 bunches scallions (green onions) 
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 
Salt and pepper to taste 
2 tablespoons soy sauce to moisten


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## jemo (Sep 28, 2005)

Thanks so much!  That was a very quick response.

I looked at foodaholic's recipe and the recipes on Jenny's website but I have a question.... When I've had jerk chicken at Jamaican restaurants, I see them spooning out chicken from large pans full of sauce as if they cooked it on a stove top or baked it?  All of these recipes say to grill it.  

Which do I do - bake or grill?  How can I have a large amount of "gravy" to go with it?  Is it just extra marinade?

Thanks again.


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## jennyema (Sep 28, 2005)

1/2 *cup* of allspice seems like too much, IMO.  
And that's a lotta hot peppers Maybe try making it with one pepper or less and add more to taste. You can always add more heat but it's impossible to get rid of heat without making more sauce.

I usually marinate the meat in the jerk paste then grill. But you could bake the chicken, too. 

Never had the "gravy" you speak of. Jerk is usually a paste, not a sauce. You could thinthe paste out with water or chix broth and use it as a sauce.


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## foodaholic (Sep 28, 2005)

jennyema said:
			
		

> 1/2 *cup* of allspice is waaaay to much, IMO.
> And that's a lotta pepper Maybe try making it with one pepper or less and add more to taste. You can always add more heat but it's impossible to get rid of heat without making more sauce.
> 
> I usually marinate the meat in the jerk paste then grill. But you could bake the chicken, too.
> ...


 
Not if you've been to jamaica but i have seen some recipes that call for 1 allspice seed .Lets just say that most North Americans probably haven't had the real deal,keep in mind this is enough paste for probably 15 chickens.


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## jennyema (Sep 28, 2005)

Maybe it's proportions, then. I usually do maybe a 4 (allspice) to 1 (thyme) ratio.

And I see that you are making maybe 2 times what I usually do. So the major diff is that I would use about 2/3 the amount of allspice and up the thyme. 

Ok, I see that it could work if you like allspice (and I do!)

15 chickens?


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## foodaholic (Sep 28, 2005)

jennyema said:
			
		

> Maybe it's proportions, then. I usually do maybe a 4 (allspice) to 1 (thyme) ratio.
> 
> And I see that you are making maybe 2 times what I usually do. So the major diff is that I would use about 2/3 the amount of allspice and up the thyme.
> 
> ...


 
If you head up the mountains in Jamaica and eat the jerk found in the small roadside places with some red stripe beer it will BURN indelably into your brain.But the allspice/pepper
ratio is pretty common.And I,like you love thyme and generally double that amount depending for whom I'm cooking.

jemo even in Toronto where we have a very large Jamaican
community the gravy that you speak of is quite common,but
you really don't find that in Jamaica.It's used for the rice that is generally searved with the jerk and to keep the protein moist when it's sitting in a chaffing dish overnight
and for most of a day.Like they say neccessity is the mother of invention.


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## jennyema (Sep 28, 2005)

I have a healthy crop of habarneros coming up and made a bunch of jerk paste a week or so ago.  I was heavy on the allspice (but not as heavy as you) and the peppers!  I usually serve it with Jamaican coconut rice and beans. 

We don't have much of a Jamaican community here.  Lots of Dominican and Hatian places.  Some good Cuban.  This is not the epicenter of jerk.  Jerk(s) sometimes  though.
In NY and Miami (never been to Jamaica  ) and in the places here that serve it, the meat is usually grilled and it's served with rice.  No gravy  

 What's the "gravy" made from?


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## foodaholic (Sep 28, 2005)

I just noticed your from the D.R.....I envy you right now! 

Jenny I only make the paste too.As far as the gravy is concerned I could only quess and say it may be after the chickens are coated and baked with the jerk it's then braised
in a chicken stock form the carcasses the restaurants would
have on hand I would imagine they bring in whole chickens.No point throwing out all that flavour,but this is just a quess.


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## jemo (Sep 29, 2005)

Sorry, gravy might be too strong of a word.  It's more of a saucy liquid that tastes just like the chicken.  They place a couple spoonfuls of "peas and rice" on the plate and then put a couple piece of the jerk chicken on top of the rice and then spoon the sauce over the chciken and rice.  It's divine.

The place is called "Tropicana" and it's in Silver Spring, MD.


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## jennyema (Sep 29, 2005)

Foodie,

No need to be envious. I live in Boston but put up DR because I picked a place randomly to avoid automatically broadcasting my home turf.

Am thinking of oven roasting a jerked chicken to create some of that gravy!

Jemo, there are a lot of great restaurants where you are! My brother lived in SS during his last year at AU.


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