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Jerk Chicken Tonight

Hey guys,

I'm doing some jerk chicken on the Egg tonight and needed some quick advice.  I've marinated the boneless chicken breasts for 24 hours and just started the egg a bit ago.  I was thinking about getting the temp up to about 375 but wasn't sure if I should do direct or indirect?  

I don't have an AR (yet) so I can't do the raised direct you guys always talk about.  So what do you guys think?

Comments

  • BigWings
    BigWings Posts: 172
    I like indirect at 400, seems to the tipping point into crispy skin.   But if you want to experiment with raided direct you can do it easy (and cheaply) with a couple of firebricks.    Just place them on their side on the fire ring and lay your grid on that.  Takes you right to the felt-line which is good enough for raised direct.  All for about a buck at any hardware store.

    New Brunswick, Canada

  • Thanks for the help.

    When you do indirect...about how long does the chicken take to cook?  I don't want to tell SWMBO that dinner won't be cooked until really late.
  • Poor planning...I know. :\">
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    I've been doing raised direct cooks ever since I got my egg 4+ years ago, I don't have, and probably never WILL have, an AR. Bricks work, Carriage bolts too. I use three pieces of scrap square tubing.

    I don't know much about jerk, but for chicken in general, 375-400° should be good. 

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • BigWings
    BigWings Posts: 172
    Assuming you have reached temperature and are burning clean smoke, just shy of an hour for a whole chicken.   Around 30-35 minutes for pieces.  165 breast, 180 for thighs.

    My wife hates my estimates though.   We sometimes have difficulties timing her side dishes with my meat.   Cooking to temperature is a whole different ball game then time.  

    New Brunswick, Canada

  • BigWings said:
    Assuming you have reached temperature and are burning clean smoke, just shy of an hour for a whole chicken.   Around 30-35 minutes for pieces.  165 breast, 180 for thighs.

    My wife hates my estimates though.   We sometimes have difficulties timing her side dishes with my meat.   Cooking to temperature is a whole different ball game then time.  
    Ha! I have the same problems...that's why I ask.  I've been burned by chicken before (pre-Egg days/college with no temp probe) and learned a valuable lesson - NEVER cook to a time and ALWAYS cook to temp.

    But with that said, it's nice to know an estimate so I know when to start the sides.

    Thanks guys.  I'll post some pictures once I get it done.
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,162
    All good raised grid info above and here's another option-pound three aluminum canned beers and save the cans.  Use them in place of fire bricks and you are good to go.  You can get another cheap cooking grid and then balancing bricks or beer cans is removed from the set-up.  FWIW-
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • GATABITES
    GATABITES Posts: 1,260
    i cook my chix breast direct about 400-425. I cook at the felt line. direct or indirect both work. Just cook to temp.
    XL BGE 
    Joe JR 
    Baltimore, MD
  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,427
    I do them direct, but almost always pound them Polliard-style (so they're thin, and even) first.  Haven't tried Jerk chicken on the egg yet, but I've already got shish-kebab fixins' for this weekend.  
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • Wa gwon mon? For the perfect "authentic" Jamaican jerk chicken use Pimento wood !! That's wood from the Jamaican allspice tree. A few chunks of pimento wood mixed in with a natural lump charcoal. Pimento wood charcoal, if you can find it. Use a place setter for indirect cooking. Add a few Pimento leaf in a water pan on top of plate setter. Cook low and slow: 250-275 degrees. 2 & a half to 3 hours. Yea Mon !
  • Zmokin
    Zmokin Posts: 1,938
    Some of you may consider this sacrilegious, but I have a quick solution to slightly under cooked chicken no matter the cook method.

    1 to 2 minutes in the microwave.  I've deep-fried drumsticks, outside looks perfect, knife into the biggest one, juices not completely clear, quick 60 seconds in the microwave, juices are clear and the pink color is gone.  the battered coating is still crispy and not burnt.  I've done the same off gas grills and charcoal grills and even oven-roasted chicken.
    Large BGE in a Sole' Gourmet Table
    Using the Black Cast Iron grill, Plate Setter,
     and a BBQ Guru temp controller.

    Medium BGE in custom modified off-road nest.
    Black Cast Iron grill, Plate Setter, and a Party-Q temp controller.

    Location: somewhere West of the Mason-Dixon Line
  • Thanks for the tips guys and sorry for taking so long to post an update.  It turned out really great.  I ended up doing about 375 indirect for about 40 minutes.  Here is what it looked like plated:

    image
  • Looks good! Complete Jamaican meal there with the Red beans & Rice, Plantains & Red Stripe. Very classy.  Did you do the plantains on the grill, too?
    1 LBGE in Chapel Hill, NC
  • Looks good! Complete Jamaican meal there with the Red beans & Rice, Plantains & Red Stripe. Very classy.  Did you do the plantains on the grill, too?
    Thanks, it was really good and I'm already hearing a request to do it again!  I didn't make the plantains on the Egg though.  :\">

    I used a cast iron skillet on the gas range in the kitchen.  It made it easier to get all the food finished at the same time.

    Learned a good lesson from the plantains: buy blackish-brownish plantains if you're planning on sauteing them in a skillet.  I bought the green ones because Chaquita said: "if I'm green - fry me!"  That's what I was thinking I was doing until I realized that they mention like deep frying for plantain chips.
  • fence0407
    fence0407 Posts: 2,236
    edited April 2014
    BigWings said:
    We sometimes have difficulties timing her side dishes with my meat. 
    There's a joke in there somewhere... =))


    Great looking meal btw @StellarEvo!
    Large - Mini - Blackstone 17", 28", 36"
    Cumming, GA  

  • JerkChicken
    JerkChicken Posts: 551
    edited April 2014
    Looks good, glad you enjoyed and wouldn't have been complete without the Red Stripe.

    People tend to get confused about sweet plantains vs. fried plantains. They are indeed the same fruit, but at different phases of ripeness. Think banana. I much prefer the fried plantains, also known as Tostones by spanish Caribbean. 

    Using unriped, (green) plantains remove the skin, cut the fruit into one inch tubes and deep fry them with oil in skillet or deep fryer. Once they are golden, you remove them, stand them on end and then mash them between to surfaces (i.e. plate and cutting board). You then fry them again until golden brown. Add salt and dip in whatever you are eating with it and it's fantastic. More akin to french fries than potato chips. Also goes really well dipped in Chimmichurri sauce or variations there of.

    As for the jerk chicken, I marinade for 2 days, there are tons of recipes out there. I cook raised, inderect, 350 dome for around 1.5-2hr. Pimento wood for smoke if you can get it, otherwise, apple works well for me.
    LBGE, Weber OTG w/ Rotisserie, Weber Genesis S-330, Chargriller Duo, AR-15, AK-47

  • Using unriped, (green) plantains remove the skin, cut the fruit into one inch tubes and deep fry them with oil in skillet or deep fryer. Once they are golden, you remove them, stand them on end and then mash them between to surfaces (i.e. plate and cutting board). You then fry them again until golden brown. Add salt and dip in whatever you are eating with it and it's fantastic. More akin to french fries than potato chips. Also goes really well dipped in Chimmichurri sauce or variations there of.

    Yep, mind-blown at how awesome that sounds.  I thought they did they same thing I did except thinner slices and deep fried.  Frying, smashing and frying again = must be delicious because those are my favorite things!

    As for the marinade, I only did 24 hours and used apple wood because I don't do jerk chicken enough to bother with getting the Pimento wood.