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Jamaican Jerked Chicken

A Jamaican jerked chicken and pork dish marinated with allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, scallions, garlic, hot pepper, vinegar, oil, and bay leaves, grilled.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Jamaican Jerked Chicken

Timeabout 1 hour

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut away rind and most fat from pork; remove all meat from bones, cut into pieces about 1-1/2" thick and 3" to 4" long.

  2. Put pork pieces and chicken in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate until needed.

Make the seasoning

  1. To prepare seasoning, heat the allspice berries over medium heat in small saucepan 3 to 4 min, stirring often; 2 tbs at a time, crush berries in mortar and pestle.

  2. In medium bowl, combine berries, nutmeg, cinnamon, scallions, garlic, pepper and 1 tbs vinegar; crush into pasty mixture. Add rest of vinegar, oil, salt, pepper and bay leaves.

  3. Turn mixture over pork and chicken and rub meat with seasoning, coating evenly.

  4. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.

Cook and serve

  1. Cook jerked pork and chicken on grill over hot coals or on gas barbecue as far from heat as possible (6" or more); cover with lid; turn meat every 10 minutes for about 1 hour, until done.

  2. If desired, halfway through cooking time toss 1 tsp whole allspice berries into fire.

  3. Cut cooked pork into 1/3" slices.

  4. Serve with chicken.

  5. Accompany with Pickapeppa sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

775Calories
67 gProtein
47 gFat
24 gCarbs

Counts 14 of 15 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pork100g cooked242
Chicken100g cooked165
Peanut1 oz (28g)161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saucenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pork chops
Provides the main meat, which the rub seasons and the grill cooks through.
Chicken
Adds a second meat that absorbs the seasoning and browns on the grill.
Scallions
Add aromatic, mildly sharp flavor to the wet seasoning paste.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that blends into the seasoning paste.
Red-wine vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rub and helps tenderize the meat.
Peanut or vegetable oil
Carries the seasoning over the meat and helps it coat evenly.

The step that matters

Cook over indirect heat. Placing the meat far from the coals and covering the grill lets it cook through gently. Direct high heat would scorch the sugars and spices before the interior is done.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, chicken, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, pepper):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, chicken, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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