Good jerk hurts — smoke gets in your eyes, scotch bonnets burn from within.
Good jerk is hard — hard to find, hard to recreate, hard to photograph.
Good jerk takes time — days of marinating, hours of smoking.
Good jerk can be so good! When you find a good jerk, try not to lose it.
This was a pretty darn good one.
It took Tom some time to research and experiment. The final version was marinated overnight — skin and fat pockets scored, smoked on the lowest over soaked applewood for about two hours, and finished on high for a good crisp.
It took me to polish most of the wings, collect papers of his research, and put his notes together for us to repeat it again.
TOM’S JERK CHICKEN MARINADE
(for 3-4 lb of wings, tips removed, two-bone and one bone pieces separated, extra flaps and meat trimmed off, fat pockets scored)
— juice of 2 lime
— 3 Tbsp olive oil
— 2 good cilantro sprigs with stems and roots
— 2” piece of ginger
— 1 Tbsp thyme
— 5-15 scotch bonnets or 10-20 Thai dragon peppers (we don’t seed)
— 1/4 onion
— 1 Tbsp allspice
— 1 tsp garlic powder
— 2 Tbsp soy sauce
— 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
— 1 tsp kosher salt
— 1 tsp cinnamon
— 1/2 tsp clove
— 1/2 tsp nutmeg