Jerk Chicken Recipe

After trying a few different jerk marinades, we found a clear winner in Weber's Charcoal Grilling--The Art Of Cooking With Live Fire. You can change the proportions as much as you want, but a few things are fundamental: 1) Chili's are your friend, particularly spicy ones like serranos or habaneros 2) Dark meat is the best, especially drumsticks. Don't even think about using breasts. 3) Cook over low and indirect heat. Invest in some applewood chips to mimic the smokey flavor of authentic jerk chicken, which is traditionally cooked over pimento (allspice) branches.


Ingredients

Marinade
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup lime juice
8-10 scallions, roughly chopped
3 serrano chilis, roughly chopped with seeds.
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves, or 1 tablespoon fresh
1 tablespoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

10 chicken drumsticks
2 large handfuls applewood chips, soaked in water for a couple of hours

Instructions
Combine marinade ingredients in a blender until all the solids are liquified. Remove loose pieces of fat from the chicken. Cut a few slashes into the meat of each drumstick to allow the flavors and smoke to penetrate to the bone. Combine the drumsticks and marinade in a ziplock bag and let marinate in the fridge for at least 8 hours.

Prepare a two-zone charcoal fire for low heat. You won't need to fill your chimney all the way to the top, so perhaps 1/2 way full is ideal. Once the coals are hot, dump them off to the side of your grill so that they take up only 1/3 of the surface area. Close the lid and wait until the internal temperature drops to about 350 degrees fahrenheit. "Low" grilling is generally considered to be between 250 and 350 degrees, so you need to start at a hotter temperature to account for the drop in temperature that will surely occur. Once the temperature has stabilized, drain half of the wood chips and place on top of the coals. When they start to smoke, place the drumsticks skin side down on the grate as far away as possible from the coals. Save the marinade. Close the lid and let them cook for an hour. Place the holes of the lid over the chicken to ensure that the smoke passes over the meat as it exits the grill. Keep an eye on the temperature and add 8 unlit briquettes if the temperature drops to 250 or less.

Bring the remaining marinade to a boil to kill the germs from the raw chicken. Flip the drumsticks over after the first hour is complete. Brush some marinade on both sides. Place the rest of the wood chips on the coals, close the lid, and let them cook over low heat for another hour.

The skin can get a little rubbery from the low temperature cooking, so throw some new coals on the fire after 2 hours of grilling to start a medium-heat fire. Finish off the drumsticks for a couple of minutes per side over the fire to crisp the skin.

We've tried many other recipes from this book and it is GREAT! It is a helpful grilling resource to help build different types of fires, recognize when food is done by sight or touch, and gives ideas of new things to cook on a charcoal grill.

"Distract the Neighbors" Grilled Chicken

This recipe is from The Language of Baklava. The aromas from the rosemary and hardwood charcoal really go well together. We like to pick up the pieces of chicken with torn up pita bread and top them with plain yogurt.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, crushed

juice of 1 lemon

3 teaspoons brown sugar

3 sprigs rosemary, chopped

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

salt and ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast

Instructions

Mix the oil, garlic, lemon, sugar, rosemary, and spices. Cut up the chicken into cubes for skewers and mix with the marinade in a ziploc bag. Refrigerate for 3 hours or longer, turning occasionally.

Skewer the chicken and cook over hot charcoal. Tear the chicken off the skewers with pieces of pita and top with plain yogurt. This would be great with some roasted tomatoes and onions.

Tortilla Soup

This is the best version we have made. Use fresh corn.

Ingredients
2 ears corn
4-5 garlic cloves
1 onion, quartered
1 jalapeno
2 T oil
1 chicken breast
2 corn tortillas, quartered
2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 T tomato paste
1.5 t cumin
64 oz chicken stock
tortilla chips
shredded cheddar cheese
avocado
cilantro
lime

Instructions
Extract the kernels from the corn. Coarsely chop the chili, onion, corn, and garlic in a food processor. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and sear the chicken. Add tortilla squares and cook over low heat. Stir in vegetables and coat with the oil, but don't brown them. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and cumin and simmer for 10 minutes. Add chicken stock and simmer on low until reduced by 1/3. This might take at least an hour. Remove chicken breast, shred, and set aside. Puree soup in food processor. Garnish each bowl with the shredded chicken, cheese, avocado slices, cilantro, tortilla chips, and a lime wedge.

Cinnamon Curry Roasted Chicken

The best roasted chicken you'll ever roast.

Ingredients
1 (4-pound) roasting chicken
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
3 green cardamom pods
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 head garlic cloves separated and unpeeled, plus 6 cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 shallots, unpeeled and quartered
3 sticks cinnamon
1 cup chicken broth

Directions
Preheat oven to 450°. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Place on a rack in a small roasting pan or baking dish. Set aside.

In a small frying pan over medium heat, combine cumin seeds, black peppercorns, coriander seeds and cardamom pods. Swirl until lightly toasted and fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly; grind using a mortar and pestle. (To save time, or if you don't have equipment, use preground spices and toast in pan 45 seconds.) Mix with curry powder, cinnamon and red pepper flakes.

Finely chop peeled garlic cloves and combine with olive oil in a small bowl. Rub mixture over entire chicken. Sprinkle with salt. Use your fingers to slightly loosen the chicken skin and rub some of the olive oil and salt directly onto the meat. Then rub the spice mixture onto the meat under the skin. Don't pull the skin completely off the chicken! You should be able to slip the spices underneath and then put skin back in place. Next, place unpeeled garlic, shallots and cinnamon sticks inside chicken cavity. Tie legs together with kitchen string. Roast (breast side up) for 30 minutes before basting with 1/2 cup chicken broth. Roast 20 minutes more, then baste with remaining 1/2 cup broth. The basting is very important to keep chicken moist. Continue cooking until juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a knife and meat is no longer pink, about 1 hour and 15 minutes total. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Serve with rice or naan and plain yogurt.