-Jerk chicken should
take you about two days
if you're making it properly.
It's not something
that you just whip up real quick
and throw on the grill.
It's really barbecuing.
You know,
it's controlling your heat.
It's smoking it
while it's cooking.
Hey, this is Kwame Onwuachi.
I'm from the Bronx, New York.
And I'm gonna show you how to
make jerk chicken the real way.
You've got to brine
your chicken.
You know, that's how you get it
really, really juicy,
lots of flavor to the core.
So we're actually
going to make quasi jerk brine.
So the same flavors
that are in jerk chicken
we're gonna impart
into our brine.
So we're gonna
start with ginger.
Don't worry about
peeling this bad boy.
Let's cut it in half
and drop that in the water.
I'm going to drop
some allspice berries in there.
I'm just gonna cut this in half.
Once again, don't worry
about peeling it.
All that flavor is gonna come
right through that skin.
You have some salt, some sugar,
and then a Scotch bonnet chili.
And I'm just gonna
cut this in half.
So I'm just gonna turn this
on and let this come to a boil.
So what we're looking for really
is just to let the sugar
and the salt dissolve
into the liquid.
Doesn't need to come
to a complete boil.
But once you see
all of the salt and sugar
has dissolved into the liquid,
you're ready to go.
In order to speed this process
of cooling this down,
I've subbed out
half of the liquid for ice.
And make sure you're always
using a different pot
to put that in, because if you
put the ice directly in here,
it's gonna melt and it's just
gonna get hot again.
And then I'm going to add
the chicken to the brine.
This is a whole chicken
that we just broke down
into six equal parts.
Pretty sure you can Google
how to do that
if you can't pick it up
at your local grocery store.
Let this sit
for 24 hours at least.
I like to go 48 hours.
So we're gonna make jerk paste
from scratch.
Now, jerk paste is a bunch
of different ingredients,
about 15 different
ingredients that sing
when they come together.
So I'm going to add my liquids.
So we have soy sauce.
We have Wocestershire.
Woces-ces-shire,
Woces-ces-ces-ceshire.
We have thyme.
Little bit of salt.
Cinnamon, clove,
tamarind pace.
And I like to use the tamarind
for the acidity in here.
It's really, really great.
Fresh bay leaf.
So I added some brown sugar
to that.
I'm going to just
cut these in half.
These are more
Scotch bonnet peppers.
We want this to be really spicy.
Right now, I'm going to add
a little bit of garlic,
about five cloves.
Just press down
on your knife.
The clove should pop right out,
and, like, just peel off that
butt of the garlic.
Jerk chicken is more
than just dumping
a jar of jerk paste
on chicken, right?
Was an act of preservation,
you know, from the Tainos
escaping the British.
The original inhabitants
of the island of Jamaica.
Climbing a waterfall
and trying to remain free.
So, they didn't want
to give up their location.
And, you know, they used jerk
as an act of preservation
to, one, store their food for
a long time by smoking it.
But, two, they didn't want
to show the smoke
because that would reveal
where they were at.
So they built it underground
and all that smoke got into it.
So, you know,
you have to have smoke.
You have to smoke your chicken.
There's history behind it.
But there's also technique
and there's care.
I'm going to add some
green onions to this,
and I'm just going to
roughly chop them up.
Once again, the food processor
is gonna do all the work.
And then the ginger.
I love peeling ginger
with a spoon.
You get the most yield.
I don't know why people
peel ginger anyway.
The skin tastes like ginger.
What the fuck? I'm just gonna
chop this a little bit.
Food processor is going to do
all the work.
You do want to chop this more
than you would
the other vegetables
and aromatics
because, you know,
ginger is really, really fibrous
and you want to help out your
machine as much as you can.
Get all that in your hands.
Put that in there.
There's so many things
you can do with this paste
'cause it's so flavorful
and so robust.
So I love having it on deck
to add to certain things.
Just a little flavor bump.
On deck means on hand.
Sorry.
Just wanted to...
Don't know if everybody
knows that.
You don't want it
to be smooth.
You wanted to be like
a chunky paste.
♪♪
That is what we're looking for.
It's so aromatic,
so make sure you taste it.
♪♪
It's fuckin' good.
We have this brined.
You'll see the water's
a little bit more murky.
Some of the blood
coming out of the chicken
and also some of those aromatics
opening up.
That's why I like to do it for
if least two days.
The flavor goes down
into the bone.
I'm just gonna put some
gloves on, 'cause I'm gonna
really get my hands into
this chicken, you know.
Let this drain a little bit.
Now, you don't need all of this.
You're gonna save some of it
for your jerk barbecue sauce.
So remember that.
But you do want
a good amount on here.
Make sure you massage it
in there really, really well.
So I'm going to cover this
with plastic wrap,
but I'm going to put the plastic
wrap directly on the chicken.
That way it completely
suspends it in that jerk paste.
You're going to get the maximum
flavor extraction from this.
I'm gonna let to chill out
for a day.
I'll see you tomorrow.
No, I'm fucking with you.
I'm still here.
Jerk barbecue sauce.
This sauce is versatile.
We're gonna start
with the onions.
At the same time,
we're gonna turn this on.
Like medium high.
You don't want it too hot.
You just want
the onions to sweat.
You don't want to get
any color on them.
Lot of people get comfortable
with just going
to the grocery store and just
picking something off the shelf
that you can easily
make at home, like mayo,
you know, or barbecue sauce
in this instance.
I would use this recipe
as kind of like a base
and then add
whatever flavors you want.
You can add peaches to it to
make it a peach barbecue sauce.
You know, whatever's in season
or whatever your favorite fruit
is, you can utilize that.
So don't be afraid.
Be the boss of the sauce.
It's very, very important.
While I was cutting onions,
I was heating up the oil,
and it's just all ready to go.
Gonna work on this garlic.
So we're just gonna rough chop
this, as well.
Don't worry about it too much.
It should already be broken up
a little bit if you smashed it
with your knife properly.
Use your blade as a tool.
So you just want to sweat
the aromatics.
You don't want
any color on them.
I'm going to add
a little bit of salt
to help speed that process up.
Brings out the moisture.
All right, the ginger.
Once again, we're just
gonna cut this up.
Rough chop is fine.
Just make sure your cuts are
consistent so they cook evenly.
All right. We're going
right in there with this.
So we're just gonna let this
sweat for about five minutes.
I'm going to add the jerk paste
to this.
Brown sugar.
♪♪
And the ketchup.
So just give that
a nice little mix.
And after you mix
it thoroughly,
just put it on like
a low simmer.
So after about 30 minutes,
you're gonna look like this.
It's going to be nice, deep
brown like a caramel almost.
I'm gonna blend it
just so it's nice and smooth.
So you want to do this
in batches.
I'll probably do this half first
and the other half later.
♪♪
That's pretty much it.
So there you have your
beautiful barbecue sauce.
All right.
All right, kiddos, it's time
to jerk some chicken.
Make sure you soak
your wood chips.
You can use anything you want.
Apple, mesquite, maple.
Pimento is the best.
you can get it offline
and it'll ship straight
from Jamaica.
That's what we have here.
I'm going to throw
like a nice handful of this
directly on the coals.
Get this smoking up.
Oh, yeah.
Smelling great out here.
So you want the grill grate
to be hot.
And that way,
when you put it on,
it kind of cauterizes the skin
and it doesn't stick.
We don't want it to stick.
We want crispy skin
every single time.
It is the middle of January.
We're out here in New York City,
so it's cold as shit.
But we're all good
'cause we got that jerky jerk.
So the most important thing
about grilling
is really controlling your heat.
You got to constantly check
on your items.
Now, we got smoke in here.
So it's going to continue
to impart flavor on it
while it's cooking.
I'm going to put a little bit
of salt on here,
and we're gonna let that chill
for about 10 minutes,
and we're gonna come back
and flip it, all right?
Right now, the chicken
should look something like this.
It should even be
browned on the side
that wasn't even touching
the grill 'cause all that smoke
is permeating the skin.
And then flip it over...
...and you should have
crispy skin right now.
We're gonna char
this a bit more,
but we wanted to cook evenly
and not just cook from one side.
So I'm just gonna flip this.
And this is like the color
we're looking for right there.
Get in here. Let me show you
what the fuck is going on.
This is the color
we're looking for, all right?
So we're gonna let
this go for another 10 minutes.
Come back, flip it again,
and just assess it.
Oh, yeah.
We're getting to where we want
to be a little bit.
So, before we flip,
I'm just going to add
a little bit more of that
jerk paste.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Don't ya know, brother?
And this,
ladies and gentlemen,
may be the final flip.
This is gorgeous jerk chicken.
I'm going to add just a little
bit of this jerk barbecue.
Doesn't need to be perfect.
You just want
that flavor on there.
You can see the sugars are
already starting to caramelize.
♪♪
All right.
Let's get out of the cold,
let's eat some jerk chicken.
It's only right that we eat
it as authentically as possible.
So I'm just gonna take a nice
cleaver and then follow through.
And you're gonna see how juicy.
Look at that.
And this is how
they serve it in Jamaica.
Chop it right there,
bone and all.
Now to add some more jerk paste.
This stuff is really,
really great finishing it.
And then jerk barbecue sauce
to finish.
I encourage you
to, like, devour this
if you've just spent three days
making this like I have.
♪♪
And enjoy the fruits
of your labor.
You know, you put all the time
into this.
Enjoy it. Enjoy it with friends.
Break bread.
If you want to check out the
recipe, click the link below.
Or come see it at my restaurant,
Kith/Kin.
♪♪
♪♪
