Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Alright mon, thought that I would try something a little different. Maybe a little Jerk Chicken! What better place to learn than Mantego Bay, Jamaica. My wife and I were here for a little R&R when we saw 'The Art of Making Jerk' cooking class in the hotel activity brochure. After giving the jerk a try for lunch, this turned into a must do for the vacation.

The Jerk Centre is located just 25 feet off of the Jamaican shoreline at the beautiful Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Jerk shacks thrive on the sides of the road in Jamaica as a local fast-food industry. The term jerk is said to come from the word charqui, a Spanish term for jerked or dried meat. It eventually became jerky in English. Another origin is linked to the jerking or poking of the meat with a sharp object, producing holes which were then filled with a spice mixture. Jerk was an ingenious way to preserve meat out in the wilderness.

Jerk seasoning has two key ingredients: scotch bonnet pepper and allspice berry.

The scotch bonnet pepper is a variety of the habanero and got its name for its shape resembling a Scotch tam or hat. The colors range from green to yellow to red. The chiles not only add a spicy flavor, but also preserve foods when refrigeration was not easy to come by. You can substitute jalapenos, but it is worth the effort to hunt down the real thing. Reduce the heat by removing the seeds and veins from the pepper.

The allspice berry is a popular spice in Jamaica. This is not the same as the ground combination spice powder often used in pumpkin pies, but is the berry of the evergreen pimento tree which is native to the West Indies and South America. The dark brown, dried berries have an aroma similar to the combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

Other spices and herbs may include thyme, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, garlic, and scallion (depending on the cook).

Our instructor, Keisha, was going to show us how to combine these ingredients into the jerk.

In Jamaica, there are 2 types of jerk marinades, wet and dry. The dry rub is used when you are in a hurry and need to make a quick dinner. We focused on the wet rub that is more flavorful, infusing the meat all the way to the bone. It can be used on chicken, pork, seafood, or tofu.

Jerk Marinade (Wet)

• 1/4 cup allspice berries
• 10 scotch bonnets, stems and seeds removed
• 1/2 cup scallions, chopped
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4 bay leaves, crushed
• 1/3 cup ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh thyme
• salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup soy sauce

Blend all of the ingredients thoroughly.

After the marinade was made, I had the honor of marinating the meat. We used a whole chicken with the back removed. A cup of the marinade was rubbed thoroughly into the meat. I also was instructed to gently separate the pocket of skin along each breast and to rub the marinade into the space.

Chicken or pork should be marinated between 1 and 2 days for the flavors to work themselves all the way to the bone. Seafood can be marinated right before cooking.

Jerked items are traditionally cooked slowly over pimento wood. I think that in the absence of a pimento wood fire, the key to authenticity is a slow, smokey fire. Keisha also mentioned that barbecue or baking the meat also comes out pretty good, no problem mon.

The final step to the jerk is to make the jerk sauce. This sauce not only goes perfectly with the jerk meat, but the spicy, sweet sauce works great on just about anything.

Mild Jerk Sauce

• 2 cups Jerk Marinade (Wet)
• 1/4 cup Leam Perry Sauce
• 4 ounce Tabasco Sauce
• 3 cups pineapple juice
• 1 cup Ketchup
  
• 3 cups sweet chili sauce
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup honey
• 10 scotch bonnets (whole with stems on)
  

Blend all the ingredients thoroughly. This stuff keeps for a couple of weeks on the counter or indefinitely in the refrigerator. To spice it up, put in 15 scotch bonnets and 8 ounces of Tabasco sauce. Your lips are going to be hot!

This chicken was amazing and the sauce was phenomenal. Looking forward to trying this at home.

Functionality for the Bike Cart

The plan for building a taco cart from a Mercurio cargo bike is coming along. My first task was to decide upon what type of cooking devices that I wanted to incorporate. With an area of only 28 square inches to work with, I needed to find portable devices that allowed a lot of flexibility in a little space.

The first purchase was the Outdoor Chef City Grill 420. It got great reviews and is able to cook both directly and indirectly due to its flip funnel technology. The funnel passes the heat to the grill when set as an inverted "V". Heat is sent to the sides when it is turned over into its "V" position. All this is bundled into a small, light frame.

Now where to put it on the bike. Mounting to the base would take up a lot of space and eliminate most of the storage area. After taking the legs off the grill, I noticed the mount that connected the grill body to the legs. It would be perfect to attach to a frame and suspend it above the cargo area.

Light bulbs started going off, if I could suspend a grill with this mount, maybe there was a way that I could use the same mount to suspend a propane stove top cooker as well. Over the internet, it was hard to figure out the size compatibility of the two devices, but I found the smallest and toughest cooker available, the King Kooker 1205 outdoor cooker, and rolled the dice.

The final procurement of this stage was the taco cooking device. I needed to have this to ensure that everything was going to fit with the mount placement. There was no doubt that it had to be the legend for making tacos, the comal bola arriba (comal with the upward bowl). I had to search no further than our local Mercado Loco for this stainless steel tool.


Once the components arrived, I put together a wood prototype to get a feel for how these items would work together and where their placement should be. I briefly considered mounting both devices, but gave up on that idea as it would provide too much cooking power and not enough work area. They mostly were sitting next to each other to consider sizing of the dual purpose mount.


At this stage, I drew up some plans and consulted with my father-in-law. He has a wicked set of tools, a great supply of miscellaneous aluminum pieces, and the expertise to build things with them. The grill mount went together first. It was relatively easy following the wood model.


The stove top was a little trickier. After cutting the base off, it was an inch too small to fit inside of the grill mount. We ran through some different ideas for broadening the leg stumps to fit correctly inside the mount. Then my father-in-law had a great idea. What if we found a piece of aluminum that would fit on top of the mount and drill holes through it that would fit the leg stumps of the stove top. Like magic, the perfect size piece of aluminum appeared in the scrap pile. From there, everything fell into place.

At last it was time to have a practice run of the new equipment. I grilled some white onion, chicken breast, and arrachera (thinly cut flank steak). Put a tongue in the pressure cooker. After all of this was mostly cooked, I diced everything into tiny pieces. I also chopped up some red chard. The nopales (cactus) already had its needles removed and was cut to the right size.

I set up the bike in the back yard and fired up the stove top cooker for the first time. It was working perfectly.
I put the comal on top and started sweating down the red chard with some chopped garlic and green onion. Also put on a pound of chorizo to see how it would turn out.

After these items got most of the way done, I added the remaining pre-cooked ingredients. It was a beautiful site to see all of those items getting their finish. Once everything is ready, the hot middle part is used to heat up tortillas.

It was surprising how well everything came together. A little fresh lime juice on all of the meats was the only seasoning that I used. Probably will mix in a little more spices next time, but this wasn't bad for the first time.


Looks like the first objective has been met. I already have a few opportunities for practicing away from home at different types of functions in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, I think there is only one thing to do, accessorize!

Mercurio Bike Cart Arrives

It has been quite a while since I have put a post out here. Of course I have been cooking and even taking pictures on occasion, but haven't been inspired or blessed with the time to put something together. I am thinking that it is about to change now as I have become the proud owner of a Mercurio bike cart!

I became fascinated with these mobile kitchens from prior trips to Mexico (see Oaxaca trip postings if you are interested). It is like a blank sheet of paper with so many options and potential configurations.

I know what you are asking, how did I get my hands on one of these? You probably already know the answer, eBay. I was just randomly looking one day and there it was, a real Mercurio cargo bike in good condition. The price was $380, but it had to be picked up from Burbank. That was going to be the tough part. The good news is that it eliminated the bid competition. A few days and emails later, and I won the bidding.

My brother has some contacts who run produce equipment up and down the southern part of California and over a couple of months, he was able to get the bike moved from Burbank, to Oxnard, to Salinas, and finally, to Sacramento. Alas, my precious bike made it home.

It was a little weathered with some rust on the bare metal parts including the rims and it had no working brakes. Otherwise, it was in great shape and truly the real deal.

Some steel wool and WD-40, and the rust slowly disappeared. The brakes were going to be another issue. I decided to ride it the 3 miles to a local bike shop that deals with vintage bikes. Without any brakes, I had to do the Flinstone stop when necessary. It is difficult enough to maneuver with brakes, but no brakes made for an interesting ride. My forearms were exhausted from keeping the wheels going straight by the time I got to the shop. I was looking forward to dropping it off and getting into my awaiting ride. Bad news, the bike didn't fit in the bike shop doors. I was able to talk the salesman into coming outside to look at it. "Just bring the back wheel in and I can fix the brakes for you" was his comment. Grrr, now to ride it all the way back home and return with the back wheel. At least I got some interesting looks on the way back.


Removing the back wheel did give me a chance to remove the chain and get all the rust off of it too. Tried to put on some new, metal pedals, but they were an obscure size and I decide to put the original ones back on. Got the back wheel back a week later and everything was clean and functioning. Bike repair guy said that the manufacturer didn't put any grease into the hubs of the coaster brakes. This is such a well built bike, sad to see the manufacturer cheap out on greasing the hub and putting on weak pedals.


Now the fun part is about to begin. I have seen all kinds of uses for these bikes, but have never seen one used for making tacos. That is my vision, lets see how it goes.