by pinback » Thu May 15, 2014 9:32 pm
Look. I used to be one of you (and by "you" I feel like I'm talking directly to Retro). Store-bought is shit. If you want quality, make it at home.
That is good advice, until you get a wife and a goddamn home life that leaves you little time for kitchen navel-gazing. So now my quest was to like, find the best store-bought representatives of things, which actually result in a quality product.
And this, this fucking here, this is a quality product.
So I present to you:
(Married, No Time Or Money To Fuck Around, Ben)'s Famous Jerk Chicken.
But no lie, this is the best jerk chicken I've ever had, including restaurants. And including my trip to Jamaica, which never actually happened.
INGREDIENTS
=======================
- CHICKEN LEG QUARTERS (or legs & thighs, or whatever you like, but dark meat works better for this.)
- One bottle
Walkerswood jerk marinade
Obviously, the marinade is key here, and it's the best one I've found, by a wide, WIDE margin, probably because it comes from Jamaica. The first three ingredients are water, scallion, Scotch Bonnet chile. That's a good sign.
DIRECTIONS
====================
1. Score chicken to let the marinade sink in.
2. Put chicken in a bag.
3. Pour in enough marinade to get all over the chicken.
4. Shake that shit up.
5. Wait for the next day.
6. Grill the chicken.
That's it. And it's some of the best grilled chicken you've ever had. How do we grill dark meat chicken? Here is my suggestion:
It goes, "mark for 10, cook for 30". So, blast everything on high, throw the chicken on there, flip every couple minutes until it's getting nice grill marks and the skin is starting to cook up. After about 10 minutes of that, if you have that "secondary grill" section above the main grill, put 'em on that for 15, then turn, wait another 15, and you're done. If you don't have that secondary layer, move to indirect heat instead. If gas, turn down the burners under the chicken, and keep the other ones on. If charcoal, move the coal to one side, the chicken to the other. This all sounds terribly complicated but it isn't. Just remember, DIRECT HEAT for like 10 minutes, INDIRECT HEAT for like 30.
Cover with foil, let rest for 10 minutes, and you're good to go.
"But I don't have a grill!"
If you don't have a grill, you'll need an oven, but the concept is the same: DIRECT heat for 10, INDIRECT for 30. The way to do this is (and you can do this in either order -- I might recommend the opposite order -- INDIRECT for 30, then DIRECT for 10):
- Bake chicken in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.
- BROIL chicken on full blast for 10, turning every so often to check that you're not burning it.
Same shit. Just a grill is cooler.
It's so good, and I love it because a baby could do it, once you buy the right product. Call me a WALKERSWOOD FAN, at this point.
I've made my own jerk marinades. They were great. This is also great, and is much easier and costs much less, so fuck it.
Store-bought FTW.
Look. I used to be one of you (and by "you" I feel like I'm talking directly to Retro). Store-bought is shit. If you want quality, make it at home.
That is good advice, until you get a wife and a goddamn home life that leaves you little time for kitchen navel-gazing. So now my quest was to like, find the best store-bought representatives of things, which actually result in a quality product.
And this, this fucking here, this is a quality product.
So I present to you:
(Married, No Time Or Money To Fuck Around, Ben)'s Famous Jerk Chicken.
But no lie, this is the best jerk chicken I've ever had, including restaurants. And including my trip to Jamaica, which never actually happened.
INGREDIENTS
=======================
- CHICKEN LEG QUARTERS (or legs & thighs, or whatever you like, but dark meat works better for this.)
- One bottle [url=http://www.amazon.com/Walkerswood-Jerk-Marinade-Glass-Ounce/dp/B0002D8MBY]Walkerswood jerk marinade[/url]
Obviously, the marinade is key here, and it's the best one I've found, by a wide, WIDE margin, probably because it comes from Jamaica. The first three ingredients are water, scallion, Scotch Bonnet chile. That's a good sign.
DIRECTIONS
====================
1. Score chicken to let the marinade sink in.
2. Put chicken in a bag.
3. Pour in enough marinade to get all over the chicken.
4. Shake that shit up.
5. Wait for the next day.
6. Grill the chicken.
That's it. And it's some of the best grilled chicken you've ever had. How do we grill dark meat chicken? Here is my suggestion:
It goes, "mark for 10, cook for 30". So, blast everything on high, throw the chicken on there, flip every couple minutes until it's getting nice grill marks and the skin is starting to cook up. After about 10 minutes of that, if you have that "secondary grill" section above the main grill, put 'em on that for 15, then turn, wait another 15, and you're done. If you don't have that secondary layer, move to indirect heat instead. If gas, turn down the burners under the chicken, and keep the other ones on. If charcoal, move the coal to one side, the chicken to the other. This all sounds terribly complicated but it isn't. Just remember, DIRECT HEAT for like 10 minutes, INDIRECT HEAT for like 30.
Cover with foil, let rest for 10 minutes, and you're good to go.
"But I don't have a grill!"
If you don't have a grill, you'll need an oven, but the concept is the same: DIRECT heat for 10, INDIRECT for 30. The way to do this is (and you can do this in either order -- I might recommend the opposite order -- INDIRECT for 30, then DIRECT for 10):
- Bake chicken in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.
- BROIL chicken on full blast for 10, turning every so often to check that you're not burning it.
Same shit. Just a grill is cooler.
It's so good, and I love it because a baby could do it, once you buy the right product. Call me a WALKERSWOOD FAN, at this point.
I've made my own jerk marinades. They were great. This is also great, and is much easier and costs much less, so fuck it.
Store-bought FTW.