Jerk Chicken is definitely one of Jamaica’s most renowned foods, alongside ackee and salt fish and patties. But if truth be told or faced, Jamaica’s Jerk Chicken, in the twenty-first century, deserves a “wrong bang”.
A Wrong Bang in Jamaican patois is a red X, given to failed, wrong or discredited results. Keeping in line with it’s definition, I have titled this article, Jerk Chicken – Wrong Bang, for a variety of reasons, starting with the fact that 90% of jerk chicken being prepared and sold in Jamaica and around the world are being done wrong.
Being Jamaican does not make a person knowledgeable or professionally versed in this particular area of cooking, but as for myself, a Jamaican born in the 70’s, I was fortunate to be around when the original practice of creating Jerk Chicken was still rife. And I say ‘creating’ instead of ‘cooking’ because that is what the original Jerk Chicken represented: creative food.
Jerk Chicken is one of those many meals that require great labouring, but consumed in minutes.
At face value, it appears to be an unfair investment of labour versus eating, but knowledge of its unique and delicious taste kept the creative tradition lingering among old-schoolers for centuries until its current status.
The practice known to me was usually done outdoor, it required a minimum of four sizeable rocks or cement blocks and pimento sticks to create a makeshift fire-bed, a few sheets of zinc metal and the following:
• Pimento
• Scotch Bonnet peppers
• Black Pepper
• Dark Sugar
• Nutmeg
• Scallion
• Thyme
• Onions
• Cinnamon
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Salt
After all these ingredients were acquired, the chicken would be rubbed vigorously before leaving to marinate for varied lengths at a time.
Jamaican Jerk Chicken, originally, is a ‘no filtered’ meal; by standard, it is a meat with peppers and spices embedded in it.
Recent times have brought the innovation of bottled Jerk Seasoning and a decline of sourcing individual natural ingredients; this was the first step in changing a creative cooking style, which had stood among Jamaicans for generations.
Pan Chicken, a new Jamaican practice, is an imitation of the U.S. barbecue chicken style, which uses Jerk Sauce instead of barbecue sauce and is often advertised as Jerk Chicken.
This was the second biggest blow to the infamous Jamaican Jerk Chicken and its culture. Pan Chicken practically created an easy way out of the hard labour required for creating Jerk Chicken, by using metal barrels, known as drum pans, in Jamaica, to create makeshift barbecue grills, eradicating the culture of rocks, cement blocks and some outdoor cooking.
This new practice has managed to dwindle a rich creative signature, which normally required a minimum of twelve ingredients, two hours of fire-pit preparation and constant monitoring, to a mere three-step: (1) A makeshift barbecue grill (2) A bottle of Jerk Seasoning and (3) Chicken.
And along with the dwindling of the required labour and ingredients, came the dwindling of a longstanding and original taste; Jerk Chicken has vanished.
As Jerk Chicken and its unforgettable taste loses its presence to the changes in practice, its origin is being furthered insulted and discredited:
Recently, while visiting Jamaica, I went to one of its highly recommended Jerk Huts and ordered a quarter pound of Jerk Chicken, and while eating, what I would describe as bland, dry, grilled chicken, I asked “Is this Jerk Chicken?”
Someone replied, “Yes!”
My next question was, “Why is it so dry?”
They replied, “You didn’t ask for sauce!”
Sauce?! This was mind-blowing to me; the only sauces I had ever seen accompanying Jerk Chicken, were ketchup or pickled-pepper sauce, but this person was not referring to either of those two sauces.
Jerk Chicken is now served separately from the ingredients and spices, which should be a part of its marination, allowing natural succulence.
Sadly, Jerk Chicken has long left the island of Jamaica and its culture, replaced by replicas, bearing its name.
This revelation is a great shame that such an original and delicious food will not be experienced by the extended generations of Jamaica and visitors to the island, and although this ugly truth is seemingly out of my control, I hope that my article provides guilt to those, who are aiding the change, and the original practice of Jerk Chicken will resume.
© Ian T. Sebàs 2018
© Ian T. Sebàs
Bleeding Pen 