Grilled Jerk Chicken (Page 365)

RECIPE #795

• Date: Saturday, July 19, 2008 -- 8pm
• Location: Hartsville, SC
• Kitchen: My Parents' House
• Fellow Chef: Terry
• Dining Companions: Matty and Teri
• Recipe Rating: A-
  

I chose this chicken recipe for dinner when I was visiting my parents because they have a big grill, and they like chicken! This chicken was delicious. The recipe called for bone-in, skin-on breasts, thighs, and drumsticks, but there were no thighs and drumsticks to be found at the butcher, so it was an all breast meal. The chicken breast halves were split in half again, and the pieces were marinated in Jerk Marinade (see below). I marinated for 24 hours and the results were wonderful. The flavors of the marinade not only coated the exterior of the chicken but also permeated the meat in a delicious way. It was the cooking method for this chicken that I found the most interesting though. We used a charcoal grill with all the charcoal piled on one side. The chicken pieces were seared over the charcoal and then moved to the other side of the grill where they were slow-cooked with no fire beneath them. The lid went on the grill and 25 minutes later we had perfectly cooked, moist, and flavorful chicken breasts. As you can see from the picture the marinade got a little blackened in spots, but it was delicious that way! I will definitely use this method of searing and then cooking off-heat the next time I grill chicken. It took a bit longer than just grilling the meat over the coals, but the chicken came out so perfectly cooked it was worth it! Overall this was a delicious preparation for chicken. The four of us were all quite impressed by it.

Here is the recipe.

I came to Boston from California to do my PhD and I spent five years living in the Boston area and studying at MIT. I graduated more than a year ago, packed up all my belongings and moved to Indiana. At that time I never had a sentimental, I-can't-believe-I-am-leaving-Boston feeling. In fact it was hard to feel like I was leaving at all. When I packed up and moved away I already had my first three trips back planned. I left Boston knowing that my better half was still there, and consequently I would be back. Frequently. So while I technically moved away from Boston a year ago, I spent so much of the last year in Boston that I never really had a chance to miss it. But here I am, packing boxes again (this time my special gentleman's stuff and not my own) and moving out of Boston. He isn't really leaving yet. During the fall semester he will still be at MIT. But he is moving out of his apartment and moving all his stuff to the Midwest, and in the winter he will move himself there too. And in his one remaining semester in Boston, I may not visit. I am teaching this coming semester and he is not so the bulk of the travel will fall on him.

And so, now, I am really leaving Boston. I will be back, I am sure, but I don't know when. And I am starting to feel the wistful, sentimental things I never felt when I left the first time. I want to eat at all my favorite restaurants and go to all my favorite Boston places. I want to run along the reservoir. I want to eat Christina's ice cream. I want to cherish my remaining time here.

I like Indiana. In a lot of ways I like living in Indiana better than I liked living in Boston. But still, this place has been a huge part of my life for the last six years, and it is a weird thing to prepare to say goodbye without knowing when I will return...