On my latest trip to New York City, I went all in when it came to Caribbean food. My AirBNB was in Crown Heights, and I was steps away from deliciousness. I’m talking oxtail with gravy (mac on the side please), homemade beef patties with spice that would knock your socks off, and of course, we can’t forget jerk chicken! My favorite to get some from was Peppa’s Chicken in Crown Heights. I highly suggest you go for everything honestly, but don’t skip out on the jerk chicken. Juicy, tender, flavorful with the right amount of spice, dear lord, I put on some Kirk Franklin as soon as I went home!
If you're not familiar with jerk chicken, then let me familiarize you with a style of cooking called “jerk.” It’s a method of cooking where meat is rubbed with a dry or wet marinade consisting of “jerk spice.” The spices can vary from person to person, but they typically consist of allspice, garlic, brown sugar, ginger, and scotch bonnet peppers (which can be hard to find sometimes).
I made my recipe from a lack of scotch bonnet peppers at my local stores (Portland, step it up!), which is what jerk spice is traditionally made with. So I went for Thai chiles, which still gives it that nice punch of heat that you need in a jerk. We also got the usual suspects here: ginger, garlic, and allspice. My take on jerk chicken definitely leans more on the citrusy side of things, so it is not traditional by any means. I highly suggest you have your favorite Kirk Franklin locked and loaded for this one. Enjoy! —Romel Bruno
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