The Recipe

Jamaican Jerk Chicken 

As Alva Lowe from Jamaica taught Lindsay Sterling in Portland, ME, 2008

Cooking time: 1 hour + 8 hours for marinating

Serves: 8-12

Warning: don't touch the Jamaican jerk chicken rub with your bare hands. If you do, just wash your hands well with soap and water. The oil from the blended scotch bonnet peppers can be painful if it gets on or near your eyes or nose membranes.  

2 Tbsp Jamaican Jerk Rub (see below)

3 onions, sliced into thick wedges

1/4 cup Ketchup

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 chickens, cut into bone-in, country-style pieces or 16-20 chicken drumsticks

2 ripe mangos (optional)

2 ripe avocados (optional)

6 ripe plantains (skin is all yellow with black spots) (optional)

butter (optional)

In a very large bowl mix: 2 Tbsp Jamaican jerk chicken rub, onion wedges, ¼ c ketchup and ¼ c. soy sauce. Use tongs to mix chicken around so all the pieces are coated. Cover and refrigerate overnight. 

Arrange chicken skin-side-up on a broiler pan (a sheet pan or baking dish will work, too, but the broiler pan does help make the chicken nice and crispy).  If you want your chicken almost blackened like Alva served it, then broil (on low setting if you have a choice), turning chicken pieces every 9 minutes, four times.  If you want to simplify (and avoid carcinogens!) - I recommend you simply bake chicken in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes. You can do a quick additional broil if you want to brown the chicken more. It's done when the interior meat next to the bone is opaque. (The skin usually pulls off the ankles of the drum stick legs when it's done).

Alva served his jerk chicken with rice and beans (recipe below), slices of fresh mango and avocado, and sauteed plantains (recipe below).  

Jamaican Jerk Rub

3 whole scotch bonnet (or substitute habanero) peppers stems removed

2” thick piece of ginger or ¼ cup chopped

2 tsp allspice, preferably Jamaican

3 bay leaves

1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp whole coriander seeds

1 tsp whole black peppercorns

1 lime

¼ c. vegetable oil 

1 tsp salt

5 cloves garlic
4-6 small clean canning jars

Warning: don't touch the Jamaican jerk chicken rub or the open flesh of the scotch bonnet peppers with your bare hands. If you do, just wash your hands well with soap and water. The capsicum oil from the scotch bonnet peppers can be painful if it gets on or near your eyes or nose membranes.  

Blend all the ingredients in a Cuisinart or blender until you have an even paste. You might have to add a little water to get the blender moving. Fill small jam jars with rub. Keep one in the fridge and the rest in the freezer (these are great little gifts). 

Rice ‘n Beans

(Called Rice 'n Peas in Jamaica) 

“It’s got everything in it to make you feel good.”  - Alva Lowe

(The “peas” are actually kidney beans. “Gooongoo” is how you say green peas in Jamaican.)

1 c. dry kidney beans, soaked over night

1 can coconut milk

2 c. brown rice

¼ c. chicken stock or water with bouillon cube

small bunch fresh thyme, tied with butcher’s twine

3 whole scallions, cleaned and halved

3 small cloves garlic, halved

¼ scotch bonnet pepper (in Jamaica, you’d use a whole one)

Cover beans in chicken stock or water and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour on medium heat until soft but still holding their shape and skins. Strain, saving the cooking liquid. In a medium pot bring to boil 2 c. bean cooking liquid, coconut milk, ¼ c. chicken stock or water with bouillon cube, brown rice, beans, thyme, scallions, scotch bonnet, and garlic. Cover and heat on low for 45 minutes. Discard scallions, thyme, and scotch bonnet before serving.

Sautéed Plantains

Peel skinn off plantains. Cut flesh into quarter-inch thick planks. Sautee planks in butter on medium heat until golden.