How Jamaicans Do Chicken

Let me begin by saying I love chicken. And let’s put all stereotypes aside because if there is one thing that my travels have taught me, is that there is no place for our dirty little bird to hide. From Bangkok to the cookbooks of Rachel Ray, it just screams sauce me, grill me, sauté me with white wine. Give it up to the vegetarians of India for offering asylum because the rest of us have lost our minds. My recent trip to Jamaica only helped to confirm my theory. Here’s what the Jamaicans have to offer in the way of the bird.

P.S. I was in Jamaica for my bi-annual Maybin-Freeman- Martin-Brown family reunion. And yes, sometimes we wear matching t-shirts with the family logo. You got something to say about that?

Jerk Chicken

Infamous and delicious I picked this one up on the side of the road. That white wedge on the top is bread fruit. I can definitely understand where it got its name. It dense, not juicey and has very little taste; it’s strange, like a sponge.

Curry Chicken

When you do curry chicken Jamican style, you gotta get the chicken cooked with the bone in. This was a boneless batch and was a little lack luster. Lesson learned, the bonier the better.

Stew Chicken

Stewed in a brown tangy gravy like sauce this dish was riddled with bones and had the great flavor to prove it. I picked this up at a roadside restaurant for about $3. I also learned that in Jamaica it’s proper etiquette to hold all those tiny bones in your cheek like a squirrel.

Smothered Fried Chicken

The sauce on this chicken had a tang, too. This dish was ordered by my cousin so to get I second bite I would have had to wrestle her to the ground. It was nice sauce, but definitely not worth bodily harm.

I liked these all so much that I picked up a couple of bottles of sauce in the local supermarket so I could recreate at home. These were then swiftly confiscated by a mean and bitter security officer at the airport. What ever happen to Jamica no problem? I’d love to try to recreate anyway. Does anyone have any recipes I could try?