Hairy Bikers Jerk Chicken

Hairy Bikers jerk chicken came to them from Lorenzo Richards, who cooked it at his Worcestershire restaurant with a scotch bonnet and soy marinade. And of its 2 hours, one is marinating, giving 6 portions from Chicken & Egg at around 520 calories each, at a guess.

Lorenzo gave them this recipe “to spread the word about Caribbean food”, and they tweaked it a little for home kitchens. With cinnamon, smoked paprika and a little curry powder alongside the scotch bonnet, it’s spiced without the allspice most jerk relies on.

Only the oil goes in with the motor running, and slowly, because I’ve found one big splash just sits on top instead of blending through. Then the barbecue sauce is stirred in by hand, and the whole lot goes over the chicken as a loose, pourable marinade.

Hairy Bikers Jerk Chicken

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Roasting Cuisine:British Caribbean Courses:Main Course

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time:1 hour 15 minutesCook time: 40 minutesRest time: 5 minutesTotal time:2 hours Servings:6 servingsCalories:520 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Lemon juice goes on first, then the breasts sit in the blended onion, garlic and ginger seasoning for at least an hour, or overnight. After that they roast for 40 minutes at 210°C, basted twice, and rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Ingredients

For the chicken

• 6 chicken breasts, bone in and skin on
• juice of ½ lemon

For the jerk seasoning

• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp grated root ginger
• 2 spring onions, roughly chopped
• ½ small scotch bonnet, roughly chopped
• leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme
• ½ tsp curry powder
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp all-purpose seasoning
• 70ml soy sauce
• 150ml vegetable oil
• 125ml Caribbean barbecue sauce

Instructions

1. Rub with lemon: Put the chicken breasts in a bowl, rub them all over with the lemon juice and set them aside.
2. Blitz the seasoning: Put the onion, garlic, ginger, spring onions, scotch bonnet, thyme, curry powder, smoked paprika, cinnamon, all-purpose seasoning and soy sauce in a blender. Then whizz until roughly chopped, and with the motor running, slowly pour in the oil before stirring in the barbecue sauce.
3. Marinate: If you’re going to barbecue, set a quarter of the seasoning aside for basting before any of it touches the chicken. Pour the rest over the breasts, cover and leave in the fridge for at least an hour, or overnight.
4. Roast: Heat the oven to 210°C/Fan 190°C/Gas 6½. Lay the chicken on a foil-lined baking tray, pour over any excess marinade and roast for 40 minutes, basting halfway through.
5. Finish and rest: When the marinade has separated slightly, I check that the thickest part by the bone holds 70°C for 2 minutes. Then baste the chicken one last time and leave it to rest for 5 minutes.
6. Or barbecue it: For a barbecue, cook the chicken over the coals, turning it regularly and basting with the reserved seasoning until it passes the same 70°C check. Serve with salad, coleslaw and rice.

FAQs

Where did Si and Dave find this jerk chicken?

In the headnote they say they met Lorenzo Richards at his Wildmoor Oak restaurant in Worcestershire, which sits just outside Bromsgrove. So I’m fairly sure it’s the Bromsgrove jerk chicken from episode 6 of Chicken & Egg, shown on BBC Two on 11 October 2016.

The same episode stopped in Birmingham for a balti, which may be why some people remember this as a Birmingham dish. And it ended at WOMAD with piri piri chicken, while their Chicken & Egg piri piri is a spatchcocked bird with six fresh chillies.

Is it on BBC Good Food?

BBC Food carries their jerk pork chops rather than this chicken, and I can’t see it on BBC Good Food either.

Those chops, from British Classics, get a hotter marinade built on allspice berries and up to 2 scotch bonnets. Since their jerk pork chops note says it works on other meat too, it’s worth trying on chicken.

What are all-purpose seasoning and Caribbean barbecue sauce?

All-purpose seasoning is a dry Caribbean seasoning blend and Caribbean barbecue sauce comes bottled, and I buy both in the world food aisle. And of the two, the 125ml of sauce has far more say in the flavour than 2 tsp of seasoning, to my taste.

Can I use thighs or drumsticks instead of breasts?

Thighs or drumsticks on the bone are a swap I’d try, but the recipe is written for 6 bone-in, skin-on breasts. Cook times vary with size, so the 70°C check matters more than the 40 minutes.

What goes with jerk chicken, and how long do leftovers keep?

Salad, coleslaw and rice are what they suggest, and their celeriac and apple coleslaw from Meat Feasts is the one I’d serve. For rice, the rice and peas they serve with the jerk pork chops suits it too.

I keep leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 2 days, often eating them cold in a wrap. But any marinade left in the bowl has had raw chicken in it, so I bin it rather than reuse it.