Random story… About two years about I decided to go to SXSW in Austin,Texas. First off lets back track,The South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conferences & Festivals offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW® is the premier destination for discovery. In laymen’s terms, its freaking awesome. Any who, during the festival they have a plethora of unique food trucks surrounding the festival and of course I had to try my hand at a few.
To my luck, songwriter, singer and chef Kelis had her food truck out there and were giving away free food. Um hello, free food…. I THINK YES. So after having the honor to chat with Kelis for a brief second and indulging in her delicious jerk ribs, I decided to do a little more research on her… as a chef that is. To my knowledge, she is a professional chef trained at Cordon Blu and currently has her own cooking business called Bounty and Full. Awhile ago, she did a segment with Vice Magazine called “Munchies,” and lord and behold she was making her famous Jerk Sauce. So you guys know I had to try it out for myself and it was AMAZBALLS! So without further ado, you can find the recipe below… I tweaked a few things but most of it is the same.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 2:45 minutes Serving Size: 4-5
Jerk Sauce:
JERK SAUCE:
- 1/2 cup sesame oil
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground allspice
- 4 to 6 cloves of garlic
- 1 to 2 scotch bonnet or habanero peppers, seeded or whole
- 1 bunch scallions, coarsely chopped
- 1 bunch fresh thyme
- Coarse ground black pepper
CHICKEN:
- 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Sprinkle smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
For the sauce: Combine the oil, molasses, soy sauce, allspice, garlic, Scotch bonnet pepper, scallions, thyme and some black pepper in a blender and blend. Transfer to a saucepan and cook until the sauce changes color,10 to 15 minutes.
Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine the garlic, salt and cayenne pepper. Coat the chicken evenly on both sides and reserve any remaining rub. Sprinkle the ribs with paprika. Place the chicken in a deep baking dish and cover with foil. Bake covered completely for about 1 hour and remove from oven. Drain the excess juices and butter from the pan and add half of the jerk sauce and coat over chicken (Dont worry if its not fully covered, thats at the end). Leave uncovered and place back in the oven for another hour.
OPTIONAL: After the chicken has cooked in the oven and makes a brown watery sauce, I drain all that excess sauce into a small sauce pan and turn on low heat. After that cooks for about 10 minutes, I add the sauce back to the chicken, place the chicken back into the oven and turn the heat up to about 425 degrees for another 30 minutes. This is to get the chicken nice and brown and crispy.
Now remove the chicken once its brown and a tad bit crispy and add that other half of the original jerk sauce to the chicken and toss. Put your oven on broil and throw the chicken back in the oven for 10 minutes and Voila…. the best jerk chicken from scratch.
foodbyrich 