This past summer during our annual July Month Of Grilling, I shared this awesome recipe for what I believe is best way to roast a chicken on the grill. The self-basting achieved by having the chicken on a rotisserie, means you’d never have a dry and cardboard-like chicken. And your taste-buds will be excited by the punch the jerk marinade brings to the table. Tender, juicy and that awesome spice kick, means your family and guests will be asking for this jerk chicken for years to come.
You’ll Need…
2 whole chicken (about 2.5-3 lbs e)
2 scallions
5 sprigs thyme
1 scotch bonnet pepper
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon cane sugar (or brown sugar)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon allspice (pimento powder)
3 slices ginger
1 tablespoon fish sauce
3 lime leaves
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon parsley
For the grill…
– 5 sprigs thyme
– 4-5 cloves garlic
– lime leaves
– water
– 10-15 pimento (allspice) berries
Note! If doing this recipe gluten free, please go through the entire list of ingredients to ensure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs. Especially the Soy Sauce. You’ll notice that I used fish sauce and lime leaves.. that’s just my lil personal touch. Feel free to leave those out if you wish.
Clean, trim and prep the chicken. Then make the marinade with all the ingredients mentioned above (not the stuff for the grill). You may want to give everything a rough chop to make it easier for your blender or food processor to make the puree. You can make this as liquid or chunky as you want.
Remember to wear gloves when handling the scotch bonnet and if you use your hands to rub the marinade onto the chicken. Additionally you can add more hot peppers if you want, and if you want to control the heat level a bit remove the seeds from the scotch bonnet. Paste the marinade all over (and inside) the chicken and allow to marinate for a couple hours (overnight will be best for max flavor).
Watch the video below to follow along. Basically you need to set the chicken onto your rotisserie, then onto your grill. But try your best to have a low heat under the chicken and the main heat to the side (somewhat like indirect heat grilling). Place a pan under the chicken with the ingredients mentioned above. This will not only help flavor the chicken as they grill, it will help to prevent flare-ups from the fat dripping onto the flame source. Be sure to add more liquid as it dries up. You may want to secure the chicken with some kitchen string to make sure they are compact and evenly spaced above the heat source. A hanging leg or wing will cook much faster and may want to burn. As the birds roast they will self baste (dripping fat and it renders out), so don’t worry too much about that.
After about an hour or so you may need to add a bit of water back to the pan.
With the lid closed on the grill and depending on the size of your chicken it will take about 2 hours and 20 minutes or so to cook all the way through. I had the heat between 275-300 F in the event you’re wondering.
Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before you carve these birds.. I know it will be tempting to not do so, but trust me. Additionally, be prepared for your neighbors inviting themselves over when they get a whiff of this jerk chicken. As always it was a pleasure sharing this taste of the Caribbean with you.
Do you own a copy of my cookbook ?- The Vibrant Caribbean Pot 100 Traditional And Fusion recipes Vol 2
