Starting off this week, I want to answer a question I got recently: “How often do I need to season my grill?”
- Chef Smitty’s tips for seasoning the grill
- Try Lou Phillips’ recommendations for wine pairings for grilled dishes
Not too often, usually, but it depends on how much you grill, what you grill and what is sticking to the grill. Even in a heavy-use year, I might season my grill twice. If you are getting the grill hot enough and using the oil rag, there shouldn’t be too much sticking.
A jerk is Jamaican or Caribbean style of cooking, while Cajun is a Louisiana style.
Now, as long as you have the grill ready to go, here is a spicy chicken recipe to try out. It is kind of a toned-down jerk as opposed to a Cajun style. A jerk is Jamaican or Caribbean style of cooking, while Cajun is a Louisiana style. The biggest differences are the heat and Cajun is usually a dry rub while jerk is a marinade. In true jerk spices, the two main ingredients are allspice and scotch bonnet peppers. Scotch bonnets are perhaps the hottest of all the peppers and since you don’t see them here often, you can substitute habaneros. I was using only the things I had on hand, so the peppers were jalapeños. If you want a little less heat, you can always discard the seeds, but the heat, especially using the jalapeños, isn’t that overpowering — and this is supposed to be a hot dish. The Cajun heat comes from using cayenne pepper along with a combination of white and black pepper.
One thing you will notice is that when using a dry rub, the outside of the chicken is truly blackened, which is why it is often referred to as blackened chicken or fish. With the marinade, there might be some spots that get pretty dark, but not to the point of looking burnt. The Cajun flavor also will have a much more smoky flavor.
As with all marinades, use this recipe as a guide and not as a must-follow-to-the-letter recipe. Especially when you start getting into spicy foods, you want to be sure you make something you are going to enjoy. I like spicy food, but I don’t go for things that are so hot you can’t taste what you’re eating. If you use jalapeños and you want more heat, simply add some chili paste and you can get all the heat you want.
Take a look at the ingredients before you start to put it all together and see what you have on hand. Sometimes you won’t have one or two or even three ingredients on the list, but you might have something else that will work or that you happen to like more.
Both the jerk and Cajun methods are great for chicken, as well as fish, so if you like this on your chicken, try it out on a piece of sea bass or halibut. I will let the chicken soak in the marinade overnight. If I were using it for seafood, I might marinade it for a few hours, but not much longer than that. Enjoy.
Spiced Grilled Chicken
1 large roasting chicken, cut in quarters
½ C rice vinegar
2 jalapeños with seeds
1 small onion
1 T basil
2½ T oil
1 t salt
2 t black pepper
4 t allspice
2 t nutmeg
2 t cinnamon
4 t ground ginger
2 T dark rum
½ C lime juice
Salt & pepper
Cut up the onion and jalapenos and place in a blender with the other ingredients down to the rum and blend until smooth. I like adding the lime juice later so the flavor isn’t lost. Mix the chicken with the blended ingredients, coating it as much as possible and place it in a pan or large plastic bag and then pour the lime juice over it. If you are using a baggie, flip the bag once every few hours before cooking. If you want, you can boil the marinade once the chicken has been placed on the grill and use it as a basting liquid.
