Jerk Chicken roast

Hello readers.

This is my take on the famous classic , Jamaican jerk chicken. The word jerk is said to come from charqui, a Spanish term of Quechua origin for jerked or dried meat. The characteristic flavour profile is a combination of spicy, smokey, salty and fruity. The taste comes the spice rub, consisting scotch bonnet papper, allspice and thyme and other spices . The meat is marinated for a long time, and cooked on a lower heat for a longer time for mature flavour and tender flesh, traditionally cooked over green pimento wood fire to give the particular smokey undertone.

Well, I made a few changes and adaptations keeping the essence of the recipe same, and made it a more plausible for Indian settings. I used a conventional oven with rotisserie. But you can cook it without rotisserie, or on the grill or even barbeque.

You can cook the chicken with or without skin, but I personally do not like skin hence I went without it, but you are free to keep it, but make sure to apply the spice rub and marinade over and under the skin thoroughly.

So let’s get started,

Things you will need,

1. One whole chicken : dressed, and about 1kg
2. Dry spice rub :
   1. Black pepper : 1 tsp
   2. Allspice: 1tbsp
   3. Red chili flakes : 1tbsp
   4. Salt : 2tbsp
   5. Dried thyme : 1 tbsp
   6. Dried onion powder: 1.5 tbsp
   7. Dried garlic powder : 1.5 tbsp
3. For the marinade,
   1. Butter : 50 gm
   2. Coriander leaves with stems 1/2 cup
   3. Spring onion : roughly chopped : 1/2 cup
   4. Ginger : 2″
   5. Garlic : 2-3 cloves
   6. Green chilli : 2-3 ( more if you want )
   7. Lime juice : 2tbsp

How I made it,

• Clean the chicken thoroughly
• Mix all the ingredients of dry spice mix and grind in mortar pastel into a coarse powder.
• Sprinkle half the amount of spice mix all over the chicken and rub well.
• Keep aside , covered for 1 hour
• Put all the ingredients of marinade in a mixer jar and make into a smooth paste.
• Mix in rest of the spice mix,
• Apply the butter marinade on the chicken both outside and inside , and keep for another 30-45 mins
• Put scores on the thicker flesh sites , tie up the legs and tuck in the wings .
• Preheat your over at 250°c or 240°c with fan.
• Place the chicken on your rotisserie rack and let it cook for around 35-40 min, or untill the breast piece have internal temperature of 180°c
• If you do not have rotisserie, place the chicken on a baking tray, cover with foil, and bake covered for 30 mins and uncovered for 25-30 mins in the middle rack .
• For serving , I mixed some Mayo with left over marinade and served along with some pickled Onions, with some simple butter rice.

Do try this version out and let me know

With love,

Petukbong ❤️