Please accept this official entry into the "Jamaican Jerk Cook-Off!" TD.
This is my official entry titled, " Jerked Chicken Wings".
I had a lot of fun with this TD, it morphed from jerking chicken wings to spending time thinking about my late father to making a meal for him. My father emigrated from Jamaica to Ontario, Canada, in the early 50s. The Jamaican food I grew up eating was typical of poor immigrants in a new country, they often used ingredients that were not entirely authentic but were affordable and readily available. Mom's ancestry is not Jamaican so once in a while some German and Polish snuck in a Jamaican dish. That has it's role in Jamaican authenticity, too, there was widespread emigration from the impoverished in Germany, Ireland, Scotland and England to the island in the 1830s. There is still a German settlement called Seaford Town.
I made a version of our brother Phrasty's recipe for Jerk marinade .
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=105419&highlight=Jerk+recipe
Just forgot the limes and I had them in the fridge, too! :doh:
Fresh ground black pepper, nutmeg, allspice berries, scallions.
Chicken wings at clearance price!
Sea salt, scotch bonnet pepper sauce, ground cinnamon, dried thyme, malt vinegar and raw cane sugar. My partner won't eat hot pepper so I have to add the drops to the food on my plate, the smell would have been hypnotizing with the real thing.
Chopped fine, ground, mixed, and into the fridge overnight.
In Dragon-awe at 250'F for a couple of hours. One day I will will bring dad's tripod from the barn so I can take better night cooking shots because of the really slow shutter speed.
This is my first time smoking chicken wings and they were magically delicious. I stood myself in the corner of the Unofficial Penalty Box for taking this long to try it out. :tsk:
Most often my family used red kidney beans for rice and peas, though, for special occasions they'll go farther to buy ingredients or hit a special stash. Little, red Christmas peas are the favourite for rice and peas, the next favourite is gungo peas (aka congo peas and I've learned another alias in this TD, pigeon peas). This batch is 3 cups of brown short grain rice, 200 mls coconut milk and 800 mls water. Salt to taste. I get the rice and liquid boiling, then on to low for about 15 minutes. I stir in the kidney beans and continue cooking on low for another 25 minutes or so. The type of pot will change cooking times and possibly the amount of liquid (enamelled cast iron, heavy bottom stainless, thin bottom stainless, corning ware, etc.). Check how it's going occasionally the first time in that pot to create your own guidelines. When using canned kidney beans I wash them well to get rid of the gas-creating coating.
I don't have access to callaloo, the best loved spinach-like plant in our family, but I do have access to swiss chard, another loved spinach-like plant. Washed it, chopped the stems and sautéed them with chopped onion and garlic until they were tender but still toothsome. If you overcook red chard that beautiful colour will turn to various shades of mud…. and I like that I have to chew the finished greens a tiny bit. Leaves go on after, often in two batches if there is a lot of it. When the first batch of chopped leaves wilts down and makes space the second batch of fresh leaves can be added. I will steam them a few minutes to get the leaves wilted but then I remove the lid to preserve that beautiful red colour and to dry it out so water doesn't run out while on your plate.
And this is dinner, jerked chicken wings with rice & peas and swiss chard.
Please use the photo below for voting.
The meal turned out great! I don't recall anyone in our family jerking meat, most often it was curry chicken, goat or beef, oxtail and grandma made fantastic stewed chicken. One time when grandma was visiting us she came to my place where I grilled her jerked chicken thighs. She loved the bottled Canadian gourmet store brand sauce so much she insisted on taking some back with her to Jamaica. I sent her more over time when someone went back home to visit, I thought it was hilarious her favourite jerk sauce was a Canadian supermarket brand. :laugh:
http://reviews.presidentschoice.ca/6584/F9352/reviews.htm
