Jerk Chicken Spice Blend
Adapted from Suite101.com

Notes

I split the marinade into two parts- one half was used to marinate the chicken overnight. I took the other half and added a small can of tomato paste to make a pizza sauce to spread on the dough. If I were to ever try this again I would probably leave out the tomato paste as it seemed to add more acidity to the jerk sauce which was already quite acidic from the vinegar, orange juice and peppers.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbl. ground allspice
• 1 Tbl. ground thyme
• 1 ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 ½ tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 ½ tsp. ground sage
• ¾ tsp. ground nutmeg
• ¾ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¾ tsp. minced ginger
• 2 Tbls. fresh garlic (crushed)
• 1 Tbls. brown sugar or molasses
• ¼ C. Soy sauce
• ¼ C. dark rum (optional, but encouraged)
• ¾ C. white vinegar
• ½ C. orange juice
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 Scotch bonnet peppers (I used 1 seeded jalapeno and 1 seeded cherry pepper)
• 3 green onions, diced
• 1 C. white onion, diced

Directions

1. Put all the ingredients in a blender and whiz until smooth.
2. Place chicken in a large freezer bag and pour in spice blend. Place in a bowl to make sure there isn’t any leakage and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but up to a day is preferable.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees or grill. If using an oven, place chicken skin side up on a roasting pan and roast until cooked through (about 45 minutes) flipping once halfway through the process. If using a grill, place chicken skin-side down and grill until skin becomes crisp. Flip and finishing cooking thoroughly. Don’t be afraid to blacken the chicken with this recipe.