Been thinking about making some Jamaican jerk chicken.

[alphafemale]

One of the drivers for that, was my housemate and I just pulled about 20 lbs of sweet potatoes out of the dirt in the backyard and I have always loved jerk with sweet potatoes.

When I looked at marinades at the store today nearly all of them listed High Fructose Corn Syrup as the first ingredient.

So gross.

Found a dry mix with spices on the web just now. Pretty sure I already have all the spices.

[Cheese Sandwich]

1. Sounds good but should have been curry goat

[alphafemale]

2. Recipes for curries are as varied as the recipes for barbecue sauce.

Not that that's a bad thing by any means.

[Cheese Sandwich]

3. The whole idea sounds absolutely delicious

It sounds like you're on course for a spicy delicious meal.

[cemaphonic]

4. Yeah, you can always just make your own

I'd say the key ingredients are allspice, some kind of hot chili, and onion (powder if a dry rub). Doesn't need a ton of sweetener like the processed versions, but should include a bit of brown sugar or molasses.

[alphafemale]

5. I also came across a Mango Habanero marinade

Tried this years ago and it was great but lost recipe.

Yep. Sweet and Hot sets off my joy bells.

[csziggy]

6. Why not get a recipe straight from the source?

Jerk chicken recipe

Ingredients

You will need the following ingredients to prepare enough jerk chicken for 4 people:-
Ingredients
One 3 1/2 lb chicken (3lb of chicken breasts may be used if preferred)
6 sliced scotch bonnet peppers (jalapenos may be used if scotch bonnet peppers are unavailable)
2 Tbsp. thyme
2 Tbsp. ground allspice
8 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 Medium onions, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. salt
2 Tsp. ground black pepper
1 to 2 Tsp of the following (to taste)
-ground cinnamon
-nutmeg
-ginger
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
Juice of one lime
1 cup orange juice
1 cup white vinegar

Preparation
Chop the onions, garlic and peppers. These do not need to be chopped too fine as they will be liquidised by the blender.

Blend all of the ingredients (excluding the chicken) in a blender to make the jerk sauce.

Cut the chicken up in to 4 pieces.

Rub the sauce in to the meat, saving some for basting and dipping later.
Leave the chicken in the fridge to marinade overnight.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, turn the meat then bake for a further 30 minutes.

or

Grill the meat slowly until cooked, turning regularly. Baste with some of the remaining marinade whilst cooking. For best results, cook over a charcoal barbeque (ideally over a rack of pimento wood).

http://www.jamaicatravelandculture.com/food_and_drink/jerk_chicken.htm

I'd make it except leave out the Scotch bonnet peppers. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to eat it.

[alphafemale]

7. I'd use the scotch bonnets, but probably not that many. SIX!?

That is also a lot of garlic.

Yowzers.

The citrus and sugar would neutralize it some....but that would pack a punch.

[csziggy]

8. Yeah - though I have a recipe for garlic chicken that uses 30 cloves

You roast it low and slow and the garlic gets really mellow and buttery. It's pretty amazing! So the garlic doesn't worry.

The hot peppers on the other hand are not in the picture for me - I blister if I tough anything on the Scoville Scale. It's bad enough to blister on my fingers or lips but it continues all the way through.

There are plenty of ways to make a dish spicy and flavorful without suffering!