I’ve known Sid and Jackie
as long as I can remember. Whenever they would visit Puerto Rico, which was
every year or so, they stayed with my parents. My father, Jack Delano,
took the photographs for Worker in the Cane. A deep and lifelong
friendship grew from that collaboration. Of course, Sid and Jackie’s stays at
our house involved much cooking. For some reason, I remember a veal stew made
with lots of wine that seemed to me like the most exquisite thing I’d ever tasted
at 12 or 14 years old. Maybe those childhood experiences spurred my
lifelong interest in cooking.
Every few years –or every
few decades– I’d be in touch with Sid and Jackie. Most recently, we
corresponded about the artist Kara Walker’s monumental installation, A
Subtlety or The Marvelous Sugar Baby, which was inspired by Sweetness
and Power. That e-mail thread turned to my own struggles in defense of a
collection of beautiful Haitian paintings donated to my academic institution. A
few colleagues felt the paintings should be deaccessioned; they deemed this art
to be not part of “the canon” and thus of little pedagogical value. After
reading my description of what had transpired, Sid responded, “Have they no
idea where or among whom they live?” Those few validating words buoyed me.
Where I live is in Central
Connecticut, where waves of Caribbean migrants from Puerto Rico and then
Jamaica worked the tobacco fields surrounding the Hartford–Springfield airport.
Thus, I’ll share my recipe for jerk chicken – a quick and easy version of the
Jamaican dish that I came up with after some experimenting. Key to success with
this recipe is to use Walkerswood Traditional Jamaican Jerk Seasoning. I’ve
found that no other brand of jerk seasoning comes close. You’ll pay a bit more
for Walkerswood than for the imitations but it’s worth it. It is readily
available at Caribbean groceries or online. Get the 10oz. jar. Here’s the
recipe:
Medium size whole chicken,
split or spatchcocked (remove the backbone)
Walkerswood Traditional
Jamaican Jerk Seasoning (Hot and Spicy), about a heaping tablespoon or more,
depending on tolerance for spice.
Orange Juice, about ½ cup
Dark or gold rum, about ¼
cup. Don’t use spiced rum.
I tablespoon olive oil
Combine the jerk seasoning,
the juice, the oil and the rum in a one gallon zip-lock bag and mix. Add the
chicken, making sure the liquid coats the chicken well. Squeeze out as much air
as you can and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for a day or two.
Roast on a rack in oven
preheated to 425 skin side up for about an hour, more or less depending on the
chicken size.
Of course the recipe is
completely adaptable. You can use chicken parts, just wings, etc. You can also
grill the chicken instead of roasting in the oven, this is preferable in the
summer.
