The purpose of this lab was to learn about how to cook jerk chicken, along with a recipe for rice and peas to go along with it in the dish.
Safety and Sanitation
For this lab, I made sure to use standard practices like washing my hands, wearing an apron, and wearing a hairnet. I made sure to keep clothing away from the grill when cooking the chicken, and I used tongs to handle it. When cooking the rice, I made sure to not touch the hot pan.
Tools and Equipment
For the chicken, I used tongs to handle it on the grill. I used a pan, a burner, and a lid when cooking the rice. The chicken stock was in a jug, and the rest of the ingredients were in containers.
Ingredients
The jerk chicken marinate consisted of 1 tbsp chinese five spice, ½ cup of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of allspice, 1 tbsp of ground black pepper, 1 tsp of thyme, 1 tsp of nutmeg, 3 scotch bonnets, 1 onion, 3 green onions, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tsp of salt, 3 tbsp of brown sugar, and 1 tbsp of vegetable oil. For the rice and peas, I used 1 cup of rice, ¼ cup of diced onion, ½ a can of dried kidney beans, ½ can of coconut milk, a little bit of thyme, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 tsp allspice, a pinch of salt, some pepper, some green onions, and 1 ½ cups of chicken stock.
Procedure
First, a marinade was made with the marinade ingredients and a high-speed food processor. Next, all the chicken was seasoned in the marinade. To cook the chicken, the marinated chicken was placed with tongs on a hot grill, to create grill lines and add flavour. Then, the chicken was rotated roughly 45 degrees, and this was repeated. Next, the chicken was flipped over, and the same procedure was followed. Once the chicken was grilled, it was cooked on a tray in the oven until it reached a safe heat on the inside, to ensure it was fully safe to eat.
Next, for the rice, a pan was heated, then coated in oil. Once ready, rice was added to the pan, and cooked until slightly browned. Then, chicken stock was added to the rice, and it was cooked with a lid on until the chicken stock was well absorbed. Next, the rice was scooped into a bowl, and oil was added to the pan again. This time, the vegetables, onions, garlic, thyme, and all other unused ingredients except the peas (kidney beans) were added. The veggies were lightly cooked, then the peas were added and cooked for a short amount of time. Then, the coconut milk was poured into the pan, and the allspice along with salt and pepper was added on top. After being mixed and cooking for a little longer, the rice was added to the pan. Finally, the rice was mixed in, and the heat was turned off. The final product was prepared in a tray with the chicken.
Challenges
When I grilled the chicken, I may have not been gentle enough with the skin, and it ended up being a bit messy. Also, when I prepared the rice and peas, I had to add a lot of salt at the end to fix the flavour. Next time, I could make sure to grill better (which will come with experience), and season earlier in the cooking of the peas.
Successes and Growth
I learned a whole lot about making good rice in this lab. I'm used to rice that is simply salted and cooked in water, but coconut rice with all the seasoning and flavours is so much better. I learned that you can basically fry rice along with the other cooking steps to enhance the flavour.
Advice for Beginners
My advice is that you should learn a bit about how to use a grill beforehand, because grills are quite hot, and it's important to understand that some parts of a grill cook faster than others due to position. This will help you cook your chicken better. When it comes to the rice, don't be afraid of seasoning it, because the rice needs the flavour.
Final Evaluation
I would honestly rate the final product as a 10/10. The grilled chicken tasted amazing, with the spice really adding to the flavour. The rice was the best rice I've ever tasted. It was nicely salted, and it had tons of flavour from all the spices and onion. In addition, the peas tasted wonderful, despite the fact that I normally don't like kidney beans. The chicken was nice and tender, and the rice wasn't unnecessarily soft. The appearance of the dish was also great; the chicken had well-defined grill lines, and the rice was cooked to be a spicy light brown, with contrasted peas. The work for this lab was very intense, but at a restaurant, this would definitely be an expensive meal worth the money!