Satisfy Your Jerk Chicken Fix

When you get a craving for jerk chicken, it needs to be satisfied immediately. It becomes not just a food you want, but the only food you want. To answer that need for sweet, savoury, spicy meat, I have two go-to spots in Ottawa: Bananas in the east; and The Caribbean Cruiser representing the westside. As spoiled as I am with these choices, I rely on a version of the recipe found in one of my favourite cookbooks for the days I don't want to go out in public to eat; it may take a while to complete this dish, but it is worth it. It definitely puts to shame the "jerk" roast chicken offering currently being sold at a local supermarket; your craving deserves better than that.

Ingredients:

20 whole allspice berries
10 sprigs thyme
5 whole cloves
3 star anise pods
2 habaneros, seeds and ribs removed, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled, roughly chopped
1 bottle cola
juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime
1 whole nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick
1 5 cm piece ginger
1.4 kg chicken thighs, bone in, skin on
170 g packed brown sugar
15 g kosher salt
15 g browning seasoning, optional (look for it in the "international" section of your supermarket)
canola oil

1.  Place the chicken thighs in a bowl and cover them with kosher salt. Pour cola in the bowl until the chicken is covered, stirring to dissolve the salt. Place the entire bowl into the refrigerator, covering it with plastic wrap for 12-24 hours.
2.  Combine and grind until fine the nutmeg, allspice, star anise, cinnamon stick, and cloves using a blender (a spice grinder or mortar and pestle can also be used). Place the ground-up spices in a small pan over low heat to toast, moving them constantly for about 2 minutes. When the spices are nice and fragrant, pour them into a blender.
3.  Cut the ginger root in half lengthwise, with the skin still on. Char the root until the skin is blackened (on the grill, under the broiler, in the toaster oven - you figure it out), then roughly chop it, and add it to the spices in the blender, along with the brown sugar, the citrus juices, the peppers, the garlic, the browning seasoning (if using), the thyme, and the salt, and blend on high until everything is smooth.
4.  Take the chicken from the fridge, and place the chicken in a large resealable bag. Add the marinade, seal the bag, and allow the meat to get covered. Put the bag in the fridge and allow the thighs to marinate for at least 8 hours or up to two days.
5.  Get your grill ready for medium-high heat. Grease the grates or your grill pan with the canola oil, and place the thighs, skin down onto the grill over direct heat or in the pan. Cook for about ten minutes, or until the skin releases itself from the cooking surface. Flip the thighs over, and cook for another ten minutes, or until the juices run clear, or you get a reading of 74°C from a meat thermometer.

Your New Favourite Way To Cook Chicken

Longtime readers of this blog know that while it gets the job done, beer can chicken is a load of crap. If you're looking for a new way to cook your poultry, try butterflying the bird first. By removing the bird's spine, or spatchcocking it, you flatten it out, allowing the heat from the grill to come from a single direction, making it easier to cook, and for it to get a nice, crispy brown skin. Great for either the BBQ or the oven, I recently tried a version of the recipe below as part of my vacation cooking responsibilities.


Ingredients

1 1.5 to 1.75 kg. chicken
30 mL olive oil
10 g ground cumin
10 g ground ginger
10 g paprika
5 g cinnamon (I used five-spice powder)
2 g crushed red pepper flakes (I used Chipotle)
2 g crushed saffron (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Once the bird is out of its wrappings and the innards have been removed, pat it dry with some paper towels
2. Turn the carcass so that the neck flap is facing you, and cut down the right side of the spine with a pair of kitchen shears. Try not to cut into the spine itself, just to the side of it. Once the first cut is done, flip the bird around again and cut it down the other side. The spine can now be thrown out or saved to make stock.
   
   NOTE: This can be done by a butcher if you ask them.
3. Flip the chicken over skin side up, and using both hands, press down on each breast to break the sternum so that the chicken lies flat. You can remove the keel bone that connects the two halves of the chicken together, but it's not required.
4. Brush the olive oil on the chicken, and then season it with the spices, and the salt and pepper.
5. If you're doing your cooking in the oven, place the chicken skin side up on a wire roasting tray in a roasting pan, and broil at medium heat for about 10 minutes. Once the skin has browned, turn the meat over, and switch your oven to the bake setting, at 350°F (177°C). Cook until either the juices run clear when you poke it with a fork, or when a thermometer reads 165°F (71°C).
   
   If you're cooking on the BBQ, you'll be using indirect heat. Preheat your grill at its high setting, and turn off either the middle or the side burner(s) to provide the indirect heat. Get your heat to about 425°F (220°C). Place the chicken skin side up on the turned off burner(s). Cook with the lid closed for 35-45 minutes, or until either the juices run clear when you poke it, or when a thermometer reads 165°F (71°C).

Want a Moist Turkey? Brine it!

With Thanksgiving around the corner, the goal of whoever is cooking the turkey is to make sure the bird is moist and tender. This can be done by brining your poultry, a simple method of marinating the bird in a salt solution infused with aromatic herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables. The salt changes the structure of the muscle tissue in the meat which allows it to swell and absorb water and flavourings which results in tender meat once cooked. Here's the method I used when I brined the turkey for the Franklin family meal last Christmas:

Ingredients

cold water
1/2 cup (125 g) Kosher salt
1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar
2 cups (473 mL) boiling water

NOTE: The brining process takes time, so if you plan to do this, consider starting the day before you plan to cook the turkey. If the turkey is frozen, thaw it according to the package directions before brining.

1. In a pan on the stove, dissolve the salt and brown sugar in 2 cups of boiling water (or vegetable stock). Allow the mixture to cool in either the freezer or overnight in the refrigerator, depending on your time constraints.
2. Pour the brine solution into a food-grade container large enough to hold the turkey, and enough cold water to cover the bird. Add your favourite dried spices (i.e. a tablespoon of sage, oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, cinnamon) and seasonings (i.e. peppercorns, garlic cloves). Feel free to substitute some of the water with cold tea, lemon or orange slices, fruit or vegetable juices, cider, wine or beer.
3. Untie your turkey, and remove the giblets from the neck cavity and the neck from the body cavity. Trim away any large areas of fat or excess skin around the body cavity, and cut off the tail. Wash the bird inside and out under cold water, rinse the bird thoroughly. Place the turkey into the brine, adding more water if necessary to completely submerge it. If the turkey keeps floating up, find a way to weigh it down.
4. The turkey and brine solution must be kept below 40°F/4°C  during the brining, so stick your container in the fridge, or somewhere cool, like in the basement, for at least ten hours.  About halfway through the brining process, turn your poultry over to ensure an even brining throughout. Ice packs or reusable gel packs may be used to maintain the brine's cold temperature, but do not put ice directly into the solution as this will dilute the brine.
5. Remove the turkey from the brine, rinse it inside and out under cold water, and dry the bird thoroughly using a kitchen towel. Allow to come up to room temperature for an hour before you plan to roast it to ensure proper and safe heat penetration. Then cook the turkey as normal.