Charcoal BBQ Jerk Style Chicken

Today we are going to take a look at making jerk style chicken on the charcoal BBQ. While the method works just fine with store bought jerk marinades (and there are a few good ones, most notably Walkerswood) we are also making our own jerk marinade that is fiery and delicious.

We BBQed 5 full chicken legs using these portions so adjust the portions accordingly if you are making more or less.

When making jerk chicken I like to use skin-on chicken legs, though skin-on chicken thighs or drumsticks work equally well.

To begin you make the marinade. Depending on how hot you want it use 1 or 2 scotch bonnets. If you want it fiery hot, do not seed them. While you can forgo the bonnets altogether, that really detracts from the flavour. 

Marinade Ingredients:

1 or 2 scotch bonnet peppers, seeded or unseeded
1 chopped onion
6 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 chopped green onions
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons mustard powder
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Take all of these ingredients and blend them together in a food processor until you have made a slightly watery paste.

Coat all of your chicken pieces with the marinade in a large bowl or in freezer bags and marinade in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or as long as overnight.

When ready to cook prepare your charcoal BBQ as always. While I have a method of making jerk chicken in the clay baker that I plan to share soon, there is no method that beats the charcoal grill.

Once you have the coals going place all your chicken pieces directly on the grill and sear them for around 2 minutes a side.

Transfer the chicken to aluminum BBQ trays. These are widely available and should have small slits in the bottom.

Take any left over marinade and spoon it onto the chicken. While generally, of course, you should discard any marinade in this case you need not worry as you will be cooking the chicken for another hour.

Place the trays of chicken on the grill and cook for 1/2 an hour using the lid to regulate the heat and any flame ups. You will have the lid on more often than not. I find I usually have the lid on for around 10-12 minutes and then off for 3-5 minutes to keep a steady heat going.

After 1/2 an hour flip the chicken pieces and cook for another 30 minutes or so. If you have any doubts the chicken is done when it has been cooked to at least 165 degrees.

Either serve whole or, if you like, use a meat cleaver to separate the legs at the joint.

This dish is great served with rice and a salad and pairs well with ice cold beer or Vinho Verde.

Enjoy!

See also: Clay Baked Caribbean Style Curried Chicken w. Green Seasoning and Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce

See also: Spanish-Style Fried Chicken Strips w. Spicy Mayo

Mitzie's Jerk in Etobicoke -- Home of the Ultimate Oxtail Sandwich!

Mitzie's Jerk is an all around terrific Jamaican take-out restaurant that is just east of Islington (and the Islington subway station) on Bloor St. W. in Etobicoke.

There is lots to love at Mitzie's. As the name implies, they make excellent jerk chicken which is what often springs to mind when you think of jerk. But they also make a delicious jerk pork that is simply mouth-watering and nicely seasoned.

Both the jerk chicken and jerk pork can be had as dinners served with rice (or rice and peas) and coleslaw (chicken is $10.50 small and $13.50 large while the jerk pork is $12.50 small and $15.50 large) or as rotis ($12 chicken / $13 pork).

Mitzie's rotis and dinners generally are all worth trying. The goat is moist and tender in a curry sauce and the oxtail is fall off the bone as you want it to be. (oxtail and goat dinners are $12.50 small and $15.50 large while the goat roti is $13).

Oxtail Dinner

Mitzie's also makes a great veggie roti for $10.50.

Veggie Roti

If you are having trouble making up your mind Mitzie's has a very cool "Mix-Up" option where you can all the meats from jerk to oxtail to goat, etc. in small portions served with the rice (or rice and peas) and coleslaw. A woman at the counter described this to me as a "buffet in a box". This runs $15.50 for a small and $18.50 for a large.

But Mitzie's also has a unique and really incredible menu option that makes a trip to it all the more worthwhile.

These are "Kristle's Ultimate Sandwiches" and they are awesome. The idea is to take the jerk chicken, curried goat, pork or oxtail and serve them, boneless, on a fresh large-sized bun.

OMG...Boneless Oxtail on a Bun!!!

Seriously, boneless Caribbean style oxtail on a bun!

The Ultimate Sandwiches are $10.75 each and they are huge. Great concept really well executed.

Mitzie's Jerk is located at 3337 Bloor St W in Etobicoke. It is just a couple of blocks east of the Islington subway station. 647-345-0077. They are open 11 am to either 9 or 10 pm from Monday to Saturday (closed Sunday). See their website for more information. 

See also: Ali's West Indian Roti Shop w. Fiery House Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce

See also: Michael's West Indian Flavor: Perfect Oxtail in New Toronto

Charlie's Caribbean Cuisine: West Indian-Chinese Fusion in Mississauga

Charlie's Caribbean Cuisine is a really terrific West Indian-Chinese fusion style restaurant on Hurontario St. in Mississauga.

Charlie's does so many things so well. There are a number of standouts on the menu. In fact I have yet to eat anything from Charlie's that was not top-notch.

Notable dishes include the Fried Red Snapper which is a fish served whole that has been seasoned to give it a nice Caribbean flavour and that is then deep-fried giving it a terrific texture ($10.99 on its own or $12.99 with rice). Charlie's is known for its rotis but vegetarians will love the incredible Mixed Vegtable Roti that includes curried chickpeas, pumpkin, curried potatoes, long beans, spinach and okra! ($9.99) The Pepper Shrimp ($10.99) and Chili Chicken ($9.99) are perennial favourites as are the fusion Chow Mein dishes.

Special Jerk Chicken Low Mein - $10.49

This is a must get dish at Charlie's. Perfect, moist jerk chicken is served atop absolutely delicious noodles with vegetables and chicken. Just fantastic. 

Fried Shrimp Wontons - $7.99

A crowd pleasing appetizer nicely prepared. 

Curried Goat (Bone-In) - $8.99

A classic executed very well and served with rice or rice and peas. You can order it large (+$2.00) and/or with extra meat (+$3.00)  as I did above. A boneless version is available for a dollar more.

Charlie's Special Mixed Fried Rice - $10.49

Another great fusion dish, it is fried rice with chicken, beef and shrimp that is topped with pieces of Caribbean style fried chicken.

Oxtail - $10.99

As any regular reader of this blog knows, I love oxtail! Charlie's makes a terrific one, exceptionally moist, served with rice or rice and peas. Large size and/or extra meat are, again, an option.

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Fried Plantain - $2.00

Do you want some fried plantain added to your dish for $2.00? Yes...yes I do!

Chicken Wings (10 pcs) $8.99

They make terrific wings with an assortment of saucing options. The Spicy Sauce packs real punch and is full of flavour.

Charlie's Caribbean Cuisine is located at 3055 Hurontario Street just north of Dundas St. 905-949-0663. They have a website with their full menu and a Facebook page. They are open 7 days a week and they are licensed. If you live within the delivery area, delivery is available from skipthedishes.com

See also: Butter Chicken Roti -- Fiery Spicy & Delicious Indian Rotis on Queen W.

See also: Michael's West Indian Flavor: Perfect Oxtail in New Toronto

Revisiting the food of Toronto's legendary BamBoo Club w. Jerk Marinade, Thai Spicy Noodles & more -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

Vintage Cookbook: The Bamboo Cooks -- Recipes from the Legendary Nightclub by Richard O'Brien & Patti Habib

Publication Details: Otherworld Booking Inc. 1997 

Toronto's BamBoo Club was a much loved fixture of Toronto's music, Queen St. W. and nightlife scene from when it opened in 1983 until it closed to the great sadness of so many in 2002.

As musician, activist and former mayoral candidate Richard Underhill put it in a terrific retrospective about the club written by Denise Benson:

“I miss the food, the Red Stripes, the downtown Caribbean feel, the cultural meeting point and the way your sphincter relaxed when you walked into the place,” he writes. “The BamBoo was a beacon of tranquility in a crazy city, a home to top-quality music and great people, a place where all were welcome and most were cool.”

In 1997 the club's owners put out a really terrific, colourful cookbook that highlighted the BamBoo's really diverse, multicultural and often quite fiery fare!

Filled with many of the patron's favourites this book is well worth tracking down for those who both want a piece of local history as well as some truly superb recipes.

The book opens with a short history of the club and is divided into sections like Sauces, Party Flavours, From the Wok and more.

Today we are sharing the history as well as, among other things, a jerk and hot sauce recipe, the recipe for their justly popular wings as well as the recipe for what they say was their all-time most ordered dish, the Thai Spicy Noodles.

If I could I would share the entire cookbook! But some of the many great recipes left out may be making an appearance down the road.

(Click on images to enlarge)

Jerk Style Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Coleslaw & Jalapenos

With cold weather on the way, it is time to share a recipe for Jerk Style Pulled Pork sandwiches. These are ideal fall and winter cooking as they cook for a very long time in the oven and suit the season. We will be making it with coleslaw and pickled jalapenos for toppings. It is simple to make, and very flavourful. It is a terrific party or sport's gathering dish.

This is also the easy version in that many of the ingredients are store bought. In some future posts we will look at homemade vinegar and barbeque style sauces. 

To start you need a 4-6 lb. pork shoulder. Try to get one with a good fat layer on the one side. A couple of bones in are fine. You remove them at the end. 

Then you take Jerk Seasoning (Mr. Goudas makes one, among others) and spread it all over and rub it into all sides of the shoulder other than the fat side.. You want the shoulder fully coated. You do the same with a Jerk paste like the one made by Grace, again rubbing it in to the pork on all sides thoroughly, again other than the fat. 

Place the coated pork shoulder in a Dutch Oven and, lid off, into an oven, preheated  to 275. 

You let the pork cook for 6-7 hours. You don't need to do anything at this point. Just leave it be.

After 6-7 hours, remove the shoulder and put it on a large plate. At this point you take off the fat layer and discard. 

You take two forks and start to pull the shoulder apart. It will fall apart into threads very easily. Discard any bones. 

Once you have pulled the entire shoulder apart you are ready to put it back in the dutch oven. Before doing that you should scrape off and remove any residue from the bottom of the dutch oven. Put the pulled pork back into the dutch oven and cover it with between one and two full bottles of Jerk style BBQ sauce. The amount depends on how large the shoulder was and how saucy you want it. For a larger shoulder you will need two full bottles. Grace makes a Jerk BBQ sauce, as do some others.

Stir all the sauce and pulled pork together and put it back in oven. Heat for about  another hour with the oven set to minimum, stirring once or twice.

Coleslaw is a great topping for pulled pork

Serve on rolls or hamburger buns. I think it tastes best topped with a nice creamy style coleslaw and I usually add a few jalapenos (but it is already a bit spicy, so this depends on taste of course.)

This exact method, of course, can be used to make pulled pork of different styles. You can use different seasonings or BBQ sauces, including homemade ones. Watch for a future post on doing a spicy North Carolina style vinegar sauce. 

Jalapenos, sliced, with some carrots in vinegar...hot!

With the leftovers you can try making Jerk Pulled Pork Tacos. Take hard-shell style tacos, put in the pulled pork as the base filling, top it with creamy slaw, then salsa or salsa verde, some sour cream and, if you like, hot sauce or jalapenos. This will be a big hit!