Best ever Jamaican jerk!

[Pecker]

I have a bit of an obsession with Jerk Chicken. I think it's best with chicken thighs, particularly the very large 'jumbo thighs' you can get at Sainsbury's.

Up until recently I've been using Dunn's River:

http://www.easycaribbeanshop.com/index. ... oning.html

Last night I tried Walkerswood:

http://www.easycaribbeanshop.com/index. ... spicy.html

They're very similar. Walkerswood is a tad hotter, and the main difference in ingredients is that the Walkerswood has a little sugar and fruit. The ingredients are:

Scallions, scotch bonnet peppers, salt, black pepper, all spice, nutmeg, citric acid, cane sugar, thyme leaves

The Dunn's River ingredients are:

Scallion, Hot Pepper, Salt, Thyme, Spices

But the Walkerswood doesn't taste sweet or acidic as such - you can maybe just detect an edge. Overall, personally I prefer the Wakerswood, but if I had to put up with the Dunn's River forever, that'd be fine.

There's a different style of jerk, which is maybe a little bit more like a tomato or barbecue sauce, but with a jerk kick. In the past I've used Grace:

http://www.caribbeanfoodcentre.com/prod ... -bbq-sauce

Walkerswood have something similar, which I tried a couple of weeks ago:

http://walkerswood.com/product_jerk_bbq_sauce.php

This time I found the Walkerswood to be a bit of a let down. The taste was nowhere near as full or spicy as the Grace, and it burned more easily.

I'd like to have a go at making my own Jerk seasoning - but the salty one, not the sweet barbecue version. But all of recipes I find online have plenty of fruit and sweeteners in them, like the one in the first post of this thread.

Anyone any ideas?

By the way, I had these with roasted plantain and sweet potatoes, both of these sprinkled with a mixture of hot smoked paprika, garlic granules, cumin, saly and pepper. Very nice. I cooked everything in a fan oven at 170C, the chicken for 40 minutes and the plantain & sweet potatoes for 30.

Steve W

[hifigary]

I have used this before and really enjoyed it.....

http://www.smokeyjoesauces.co.uk/range/jerk-marinade/

[hifigary]

Also this was in the Guardian recently

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... CMP=twt_gu

[keith157]

I don't know about the best, generally find them too hot, but surely the Worst ever Jamaican jerk was the guy who forgot to check the bolts on the runners in their bobsleigh

[Pecker]

Found this:

http://pimentowood.com/

They export to the UK, too.

Steve W

[Pecker]

Okay, yesterday, whilst the roast chicken was cooking, I decided to make some jerk. I pretty much did this one, but half quantity:

http://homecooking.about.com/od/condime ... auce13.htm

I gave it a quick taste test alongide the Walkerswood, and I found mine a lot hotter.

I'm marinading some jumbo chicken thighs now, to eat for tea tonight. I'll let you know how I get on.

Steve W

[Pecker]

Okay, yesterday, whilst the roast chicken was cooking, I decided to make some jerk. I pretty much did this one, but half quantity:

http://homecooking.about.com/od/condime ... auce13.htm

I gave it a quick taste test alongside the Walkerswood, and I found mine a lot hotter.

I'm marinating some jumbo chicken thighs now, to eat for tea tonight. I'll let you know how I get on.

Steve W

Ended up barbecuing these last night, so they had an extra day to marinate.

I mentioned that initially this tasted hotter than the Walkerswood. However, on eating, it was perhaps a little milder (though not, by any stretch of the imagination, 'mild').

The taste itself was very similar to Walkerswood, with a similar sweet/spicy edge to it. Indeed, I could have sworn there was a hint of citrus, but unlike the Walkerswood, I didn't include any lime juice.

For me, I actually preferred the Dunn's River. It's a close thing, and really a matter of taste rather than quality. I'm just not as keen on that nutmeg/cinnamon thing that's going on. Between this and the Walkerswood, I think it'd depend which side of bed I climbed out from - similar but different, but hardly anything in it.

The one thing I'd have to point out is the price. I think it cost me about £2.50-£3.00, whereas I can pick up the Walkerswood and Dunn's River locally for less than £2 a jar, and it'll give me double the marinade.

I'm not keen on buying jars full of preservatives, colouring, flavouring, emulsifiers, and so on, but the two jarred products I've mentioned contain none of these - just the traditional ingredients.

Steve W