Gail’s Jerk Plum Chicken
Posted by Gail | Filed under Gail Cooks!
Jerk is a Jamaican creation where meat, pork or chicken is dry rubbed or marinated in a very hot mixture of spices. Nowadays jerk is being added to all kinds of things; my girlfriend Tash jerks her shrimp.
Typically made up of allspice, brown sugar, garlic, scotchbonnet peppers, thyme, and onions, there are dozens of bottled versions of jerk seasoning now available. While “Jerk” is now synonymous with the spice rub that’s used, it is also a cooking technique using pit fires to smoke food. As the Jamaican diaspora has spread, so too has the popularity of jerk.
I love to add jerk seasoning to Jamaican-up a recipe. This concoction was an accident. Well, it was a spur-of-the-moment experiment that turned out well. I was having The Girls over for dinner: jerk chicken, rice and peas, caramelized banana, tropical salad. Boo reminded me that Lynda couldn’t eat “hot” so I customized some chicken for her. I marinated her pieces in sweet soya sauce and then added some plum jam. Because I had extra jam left over, I poured it on top of some of the jerk chicken pieces I had. It was so frickin’ delicious, those were the pieces that went first! And it’s become a standard ever since.
- 5-8 Chicken pieces: breasts, thighs, drumsticks
- ¼ cup sweet soya sauce*
- 2 tbs jerk seasoning
- 1 jar St. Dalfour Mirabelle Plum spread
Mix the sweet soya sauce and the jerk seasoning and spread over the chicken pieces. Let marinate overnight.
Pour the jam on top, and bake at 350 until golden brown, turning once mid-way.
BTW, I tried a couple of other plum jams, but this is the one that works best. You’re free to experiment of course.
*Available at Asian markets, and looks more like oyster sauce than soya. If you can’t find sweet soya sauce, use oyster sauce and add a little honey.
October 17, 2012 at 6:57 am
My family loves Jerk. Such a beautiful balance of flavour. We were especially hooked after trying it at a fabulous restaurant in Fort Pearce, Florida. After begging the Jamaican owner for their salad dressing recipe, he confessed that he just adds two tablespoons of his jerk spice to bottled Italian dressing. Jerk also goes beautifully with sweet potatoes if you want to skip the chicken. Yum!
October 17, 2012 at 9:22 am
Sound delish!!!
October 17, 2012 at 9:26 am
Sent a link to DH. Think he’ll enjoy this experiment!
October 18, 2012 at 12:28 am
Thanks for the posting the recipe – I’ve never made this before but it sounds great ! I think I’ll go a bit easy on the ‘heat’ at first.
October 18, 2012 at 8:42 am
Gail, where do you find the St. Dalfour Mirabelle Plum Spread? Thanks.
October 18, 2012 at 10:13 pm
Mary, I hunt high a low for it. Sometimes I find it at Alex’s grocery store in Hamilton. Sometimes at deli-type places or specialty food places. It’s not cheap, but it works perfectly so when I find it I buy 6.