Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Spices: Ground allspice, ground thyme, Cayenne pepper, ground black pepper, Ground sage, Ground nutmeg, Ground cinnamon, Scotch bonnet pepper (habanero), Garlic powder, Sugar, Serranos peppers, Thai Bird Chiles, Hot pepper sauce, spicy seasoned salt, Cinnamon, minced red pepper, hot pepper jelly, mace, ginger, brown sugar, parsley

Liquids: Olive oil, Soy sauce, White Vinegar, Orange juice, Lime juice, red wine vinegar, mint jelly, apple jelly, guava jelly.

Vegetables: peeled diced ripe mangos, diced Papaya, finely chopped Green onions, finely chopped Onion, minced red Onion, cooked rice, minced garlic cloves, minced dried thyme leaves, chopped cilantro.

Meats: Chicken breasts or quartered chicken legs or chicken thighs -- broiler/fryer type, cut into bite-size pieces, if you want to skewer it, or sliced into some manageable shape. (either chicken or pork is traditional)

steps:

mix quantities of liquids, spices, and vegetables into a salsa-like paste. The exact taste and texture will depend on which you mix to make the paste, but it traditionally always is somewhat hot, and with a spicy 'bite' to it. Traditionally, allspice, preferably from Jamaica is always one of the spices. This paste sometimes is chilled separately from the meat, but not always.

Take the spices and associate their flavours with the meat. Various methods include: pounding the paste into the meat, massaging it into the meat, marinating the meat, stuffing it into poked (jerked) holes in the meat, putting it into a sealed bag with the meat, basting it on the meat, coating it on the meat, rubbing it on the meat, etc.

The spices are generally applied anywhere from half a day to three days, depending on the cook.

Historically, the 'jerk' method comes from the Carib-Arawak Indians who lived in Jamaica. They would hunt an animal, kill and prepare it. They would NOT remove the skin. They would then poke holes (jerk with a sharp stick) into the skin, and put spices in the holes. Finally they would put it in a deep pit, like a barbecue, which was lined with charcoal and stones and covered with green wood (traditionally from the pimento tree). Burning the wood generated lots of smoke which flavored the food. The holes also let out the heat while keeping the meat moist. Sometimes the food would be cooked with a metal container of water to increase the moistness.

The spices always included allspice because the berries of the pimento tree are the source of allspice.

When cooking the meat, use indirect heating such as steam cooking. (steaming keeps the meat tender, and moist) the meat should not be mushy.

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