Spicy, smoky Jamaican jerk is one of the world’s great barbecue traditions. Meat (traditionally chicken or pork) is rubbed with an intensely flavored liquidy paste made from fiery Scotch bonnet chiles, allspice berries, herbs, and spices, and then it is smoked over pimento wood.
Our jerk marinade has plenty of bold ingredients, including habanero chiles (in place of the Scotch bonnets), scallions, garlic, lime zest, and mustard for zingy brightness, and brown sugar, nutmeg, and ginger for warm sweetness. It’s potent enough to infuse the chicken in just 30 minutes.
We substituted easy-to-find hickory chips for the traditional pimento wood, and we smoked allspice berries, thyme, and rosemary along with the wood chips to give our chicken a great authentic flavor that mimicked pimento’s sweet, herbal smoke.
Jerk Chicken
Servings: 4. Start to finish: 1 hour, 45 minutes
• Jerk Marinade
1 1/2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon allspice berries
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1-3 habanero chiles, stemmed, seeded and quartered
8 scallions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons grated lime zest (3 limes), plus lime wedges for serving
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Chicken:
3 pounds bone-in chicken pieces (split breasts cut in half crosswise, drumsticks, and/or thighs), trimmed