Look what you did you little JERK!

So tonight it’s my turn to host the Dinner Club.  I had so much trouble deciding on a theme, but that’s just me, I can over think an omelette if you let me.  Anyway, I decided on an Caribbean Island theme  since it was supposed to be cold this month and I thought a little taste of summer would be nice.  I also wanted to do something I’ve never done before, so Jerk Chicken was what I landed on.  After debating whether to haul out someone’s grill or bake it, chicken or pork, kabob or stuffed I decided on a baked Jerk Chicken recipe I found online that called for a dry rub instead of fresh herbs and chicken on the bone. 

I’m so used to cooking for 1, that cooking for 6 got my wheels spinning.  I ended up buying three huge breasts, and a pack of thighs and drumsticks.  I cut the breasts in half since they were so big to have 6 pieces of white meat, but I think this kind of seasoning is best on dark meat.  It took me awhile to figure out how to coat all the chicken, but I also had to make 4x the spice mixture to coat all the chicken.  The author of the recipe was talking about saving the extra, but I hardly think I could have coated 1 chicken with the recipe she gave, never mind all the chicken I bought.  I would also not save anything that had raw chicken tossed in it!  Although a little salmonella would aid my diet, I doubt it would make me more attractive (LOL).

The breasts are seasoned a little differently than the other pieces so I will be interested in how they taste.  I used clove instead of allspice on the breasts, and I forgot the salt – which I sprinkled on after.  Luckily I was not convinced I did not have allspice, and found it, so that I could copy the recipe exactly for the other pieces.

Here are some prep pics from last night.  I can't wait to see the final product!  I hope it's good, many of theses seasonings are really off my map.  I hate sweet meals, and this calls for brown sugar, but what the hell.  It sure smells good!

 this is 2x the recipe for the spice mix - definitely not enough

I wish I could just cut the fat off my thighs with scissors

after this it gets covered and put in the fridge until tonight...TO BE CONTINUED