This weekend is the gateway to grilling season, and the skies around Chattanooga may be smoky with everyone lighting up and throwing steaks, chicken, burgers and more on the grill.
I usually serve steaks and burgers over the Memorial Day weekend, but this year, my tastebuds will be dancing to the tune of Ziggy Marley’s jerk chicken. His recipe came across my email from AARP Magazine not too long ago, and it didn’t take long for me to go outside, light a fire and wait impatiently for the coals to die down so I could throw the spicy chicken on the grill. The anticipation was killing me because many folks will tell you that you haven’t had good, authentic jerk chicken till you’ve gone to Jamaica. Until now, I have agreed. But no longer.
Marley takes no shortcuts in making his jerk seasoning. He doesn’t use premade. He makes his own, using some of the hottest peppers around – Scotch bonnet – grown in his garden.
“Growing something on your own helps you appreciate it more,” he says in the article.
Anne BralyMarley likes his chicken spicy hot but says you can control the heat by not smothering the chicken with jerk seasoning. If you have a tender palate, go lightly, adding just enough for flavor.