The Keys To Making Jamaican Jerk Chicken From Scratch

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Jamaican jerk chicken may be a popular entree at Caribbean-style eateries, but in its country of origin, Jamaican jerk is a flavor, a method, and a national identity all rolled into one. According to chef Keisha Miles — a culinary maestro who brings high-end dining to private clients through her website, Dine Out In — there are no shortcuts if you want to do it right.

Miles, who has Jamaican roots, said, "The key is how you season your proteins and how you cook them ... This is important because these elements preserve the authenticity of the dish and [are] a nod to the cultural significance of the dish to Jamaica." And it all starts with the right ingredients. "While every cook may introduce certain elements for their own unique flavor spin on their marinades, there are standard ingredients that add authenticity to making good jerk chicken," Miles declared. These typically include dry spices along with brown sugar, aromatics, and chiles. True jerk chicken also cannot be baked or grilled. Instead, it must be smoked.

The way Keisha Miles makes it, jerk chicken involves both a dry rub and a marinade. "The dry rub ... is comprised mainly of ground pimento and other spices," she said, but the pimento she refers to isn't anything like those red pepper strips that come in a jar. Instead, it's another word for allspice. Miles' dry rub also typically features brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, paprika, and garlic and onion powder. For the marinade, she blends oil with ginger, onions, scallions, thyme, and more allspice along with scotch bonnet peppers.

Scotch bonnet peppers both look and taste fairly similar to habaneros, and their heat level also tends to be about the same. Unlike the latter pepper, though, they have a flavor that leans more towards lemony than floral. Miles is adamant that real jerk chicken absolutely must be made with these chiles, insisting, "There is no jerk if pimento and scotch bonnet peppers are not involved ... Never skip the pimento or the scotch bonnet peppers. They are the stars of the show. That's like saying you made tequila and didn't use agave." (If you absolutely can't find them, habaneros can certainly be substituted.)

According to Keisha Miles, "For you to truly say you made jerk chicken, the seasoned meat also needs to be smoked over pimento wood." (Jamaican box food sellers typically use smokers made from converted oil drums.) Since pimento wood isn't something you can typically pick up at the grocery store, she does offer a workaround that involves using whole allspice berries soaked along with the wood chips. If you don't have a dedicated smoker, transforming your grill into a smoker is easy.

But what if you want to make jerk chicken in the winter? Unlike in Jamaica, where temperatures may remain warm year-round, outdoor cooking in the colder months isn't particularly comfortable in much of the U.S. However, there are still ways to smoke indoors. One of these involves a cooking tool like Camerons Indoor Outdoor Stovetop Smoker. Miles also suggested that you could DIY such a gadget, noting, "Simulate smoking in your oven by cooking your protein along with a metal pan of warm water with fully soaked pimento berries and wood chips. The smokiness from the soaked chips and the water cuts through flavoring your meat almost as good as if you did it on a charcoal grill."