Jamaican jerk chicken

Units

Temperature

Servings

Ingredients

2 1/2 kg chicken thighs and drumsticks, bone in and skin on; jerk is a dark meat dish

4 scotch bonnet chillies, stalks off, seeds in for full heat; wear gloves and mean it
15 g ground allspice, the defining flavour, and there is no jerk without it
20 g fresh thyme, leaves stripped, or whole sprigs if blending
8 spring onions, the whole thing, white and green
6 garlic cloves
30 g fresh ginger, peeled
60 ml soy sauce
60 ml lime juice
45 ml white vinegar
40 g dark brown sugar
45 ml neutral oil
8 g ground black pepper
4 g ground cinnamon
3 g ground nutmeg
12 g fine salt

Wear gloves. Scotch bonnets are ten to twenty times hotter than a jalapeño and the oil stays on your hands through several washes. This is the step people ignore once.
Blend the marinade to a coarse dark green paste. It should be thick enough to cling, not a pourable liquid; add a splash of water only if the blender will not catch.
Marinate overnight, at least 12 hours and up to 24. Slash the thighs to the bone twice each so the marinade gets inside. This is not a dish you can make on the day, and shortening the marinade is the single biggest difference between homemade jerk and the real thing.
Cook low and with smoke. Set the grill up for indirect heat at about 150°C, or a smoker at the same. Chicken skin side up, away from the coals. 1 hour to 1 hour 20.
Add pimento wood if you can get it. Allspice wood is what jerk is smoked over in Jamaica and it is sold dried online. Failing that, throw a handful of whole allspice berries onto the coals, which is a genuine approximation rather than a gesture.
Finish over direct heat for the last 5 to 8 minutes, turning, to char the outside properly. It should look too dark. That is jerk.
Rest 10 minutes and chop through the bone into pieces, which is how it is served from a drum in Jamaica.

Allspice is not a mixture. Despite the name it is a single berry, Pimenta dioica, which happens to taste of clove, nutmeg and cinnamon at once. Ground allspice at 15 g for 2.5 kg of chicken looks like a lot and is correct.
Heat is adjustable, flavour is not. Scotch bonnets have a fruity apricot flavour underneath the heat that habaneros share and other chillies do not. To make it milder, deseed them rather than reducing the number, so you keep the flavour.
Dark meat only. Breast dries out long before the crust forms. If you must use breast, cut the cook to 35 minutes and accept a paler result.
The marinade is also the sauce. Reserve a few spoons before the raw chicken goes in, and warm it through to serve alongside. Never reuse marinade that has had raw chicken in it.
Ahead. The marinade keeps a week in the fridge and freezes for months. Marinated raw chicken freezes well too, which makes this good for a crowd.

Scotch bonnet is the right chilli. Habanero is the same species and near enough identical. A red jalapeño or bird’s eye gives you heat but none of the fruit.
Pimento wood can be replaced with allspice berries on the coals, or with a mix of oak and a cinnamon stick. Do not use mesquite or hickory, which fight the spice.
Fresh thyme is important here and dried is a poor stand-in. If you must, use a third of the weight.