Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Jamaica's great gift to world cooking: chicken steeped in a fierce, fragrant paste of Scotch bonnet, allspice, and a great quantity of fresh thyme, with spring onion, ginger, and warm spice, then grilled slow over pimento wood until the skin is charred, smoky, and blistering with heat and perfume

Origin: Jamaica

From the journey of Thyme.

Jerk is the signature cooking of Jamaica, a technique and a seasoning born in the Blue Mountains, where the Maroons, communities of formerly enslaved Africans, smoked and preserved meat over pimento (allspice) wood. The defining flavours are three: the searing fruity heat of the Scotch bonnet, the warm sweetness of allspice, and the resinous green fragrance of fresh thyme, used here not as a background herb but in fistfuls, one of the herb's most important roles anywhere on earth. Thyme arrived in the Caribbean with European colonists and became utterly fundamental to the island kitchen, and nowhere more so than in jerk. Bound with spring onion, ginger, garlic, and warm spices, the paste is rubbed deep into the meat and left to steep before the long, smoky grilling that gives jerk its unmistakable char.

Ingredients

Chicken

1.6 kg chicken pieces (legs, thighs, and drumsticks), skin on

Jerk paste

8 sprigs fresh thyme (leaves stripped), or 2 tbsp dried thyme
6 spring onions, roughly chopped
2 Scotch bonnet peppers, stems removed (use 1 for less heat; wear gloves)
5 cloves garlic
4 cm fresh ginger, peeled
2 tsp ground allspice (pimento)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
0.5 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp lime juice (about 2 limes)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt

Method

Slash each chicken piece two or three times through the skin to the bone, so the marinade can penetrate deeply.
Put all the jerk paste ingredients into a blender or food processor and blitz to a coarse, dark green paste.
Rub the paste all over the chicken, working it into the slashes and under the skin. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, and ideally overnight.
To cook, heat a barbecue for indirect grilling, or an oven to 200°C (180°C fan / 400°F). Cook the chicken over indirect heat with the lid down, or in the oven, for about 35 to 45 minutes, turning occasionally, until cooked through and the juices run clear.
Finish over direct heat or under a hot grill for the last few minutes to char and blister the skin. Rest for 5 minutes.
Serve with rice and peas, festival (fried sweet dumplings), grilled corn, or a simple salad, with extra Scotch bonnet sauce for the brave.

Notes

Authentic jerk is grilled over pimento (allspice) wood, which is hard to find outside Jamaica; soaked wood chips on a barbecue, or a little extra ground allspice, bring you closer to it. The thyme is not optional or a garnish here: it is one of the three pillars of the flavour, alongside Scotch bonnet and allspice. The same paste is superb on pork, and a little goes a long way as a marinade for fish or prawns (which need far less marinating time).

The Gastrographer

Name: Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Jamaica
Ingredients: 1.6 kg chicken pieces (legs, thighs, and drumsticks), skin on; 8 sprigs fresh thyme (leaves stripped), or 2 tbsp dried thyme; 6 spring onions, roughly chopped; 2 Scotch bonnet peppers, stems removed (use 1 for less heat; wear gloves); 5 cloves garlic; 4 cm fresh ginger, peeled; 2 tsp ground allspice (pimento); 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 0.5 tsp freshly grated nutmeg; 2 tbsp dark brown sugar; 3 tbsp soy sauce; 3 tbsp lime juice (about 2 limes); 2 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 tsp salt

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control