Meat & Poultry

Over the years I’ve shared countless recipes for making jerk marinades, sauces, how to make finger-licking Jamaican jerk in the oven and classic jerk on your grill and bbq. As we continue our annual July Month Of Grilling I thought I’d shift focus and share a gluten friendly version of a classic Jamaican jerk marinade for our friends who deal with gluten intolerance. A jerk marinade which goes well with fish, shrimp, pork and in this case, some chicken legs which we’ll marinate before slowly cooking them over a moderate coals-fire in the back yard.

You’ll Need…

8 lbs chicken legs.

For the gluten free jerk marinade…

4 scallions
1 orange (juice)
1 lime (juice)
1/2 cup vinegar (white)
8-10 sprigs thyme
2 scotch bonnet peppers
4 slices ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8-12 pimento berries (allspice)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce
1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic

NOTE: It’s important that you go through the entire list of ingredients to ensure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs – especially the Soy Sauce.

You’ll need a food processor or blender for making this marinade… or some knife skills as you’ll need to finely chop everything. Remember when handling scotch bonnet peppers to wear gloves and to wash your hands immediately after with soap and water. The “raw” heat will be in the seeds and white membrane surrounding the seeds, so trim and discard that area if your worried about such heat. Give everything a rough chop and place it in the food processor (or blender).

Here you have two options, you can puree until smooth, or do as I like – pulse so you get a sort of chunky consistency. You can now pour this over your desired protein or store it in a the fridge until you’re ready to use it. It will remain good for up to a week. The vinegar will act as a natural preservative.

In my case I was doing chicken legs with it, so I trimmed off all the fat and excess skin. You can remove the skin, but I like leaving the skin as it adds flavor as it cook and renders and it also helps to form a protective barrier as the chicken cooks so it does not go dry. I also like piercing the thick parts of the chicken so the marinade gets into the meat and really infuse it with maximum niceness. Pour in the marinade and massage the chicken pieces. Allow to marinate for at least 2 hrs in the fridge – overnight would be ideal. Then get ready to grill as you would normally.

I had a relatively hot fire going, so I placed the chicken pieces away from the direct heat (indirect grilling), lid on and allowed it to go until it was cooked to my likeness (about 50 mins to 1 hr). I used the remaining marinade in the bowl to baste it the first 30 minutes or so – remember raw chicken was in the bowl, so try to cook off the marinade. Flip the chicken pieces every 10 minutes or so and rotate around the grilling surface so you grill them evenly.

The final 5 minutes is when you can place the chicken pieces over the direct heat to allow for that sort of caramelized color you want to achieve – that comes from the heat and cooked sugars in the marinade. Remember if you put the chicken pieces too early over the direct heat, those same sugars will char or burn the outside of the chicken and the inside will be raw.

If you want, you can double the marinade recipe and reserve 1/2. That remaining 1/2 add a bit of honey, orange juice or apple and cook/reduce for a wicked sauce to serve with the cooked pieces of jerk chicken.

I like squeezing on some fresh lime juice as soon as I take it off the grill for that little blast of citrus, which I think awakens the jerk chicken even more. just my take though!

Simple Homemade Burgers.

July 14, 2015July 14, 20156 Comments

I must have been about 6 at the time… a bit vague, but that would have been my first “burger’ experience. Dad took my brother and I to ‘town’ (Port of Spain) to spend the day at the zoo and the choice was Burger Boys or Wimpy’s! This was before McDonalds, Burger King and Wendys invaded the Caribbean. Not sure why we ended up at Wimpy’s, but I still recall sharing a massive platter with my brother as we joked with my dad that it looked like something from the Flintstones. Even to this day, when we grill/BBQ in the Caribbean burgers and hotdogs rarely ever touch the grates.. we want REAL meat (and fish)!

You’ll Need…

1 1/4 lbs ground beef (medium)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 scotch bonnet pepper finely diced (optional)
2 scallions (chopped)
1/2 cup parsley (chopped)
3 sprigs thyme (optional)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon Montreal steak spice (optional)
1/4 teaspoon allspice (optional)

Important: If doing this recipe gluten free, go through the full list of ingredients to make sure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs – especially the Worcestershire sauce.

Finely chop the parsley, scallions and scotch bonnet pepper – don’t use any seeds or white membrane surrounding the seeds as that’s where you’ll get the raw heat and remember to wash your hands after with soap and water. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together. You’ll notice that I do not use eggs or any sort of filler in my burgers. Shape into 4 large burgers or 6 smaller burger and you can place them in the fridge to set (so they don’t fall apart on the grill) or grill immediately.

For a little more island flavor you can add a touch of allspice in the mix. And once formed, if you have Montreal Steak Spice, you can sprinkle on some as you grill these burgers. If you don’t have access to a grill, you can definitely pan fry them on your stove top (a dry non stick pan will work best). Basically all you do now is grill on a medium flame ( I used a propane grill – too lazy to do charcoal this time) and cook as you would normally do your burgers.

Having moved to North America and slowly immersing myself in the culture over the years, good homemade burgers is something I look forward to every summer! So gone are the days when I’d reach for the roadhouse burgers in the frozen section at the Costco, as I much prefer to control what I put in my burgers.. maybe next time I’ll share my trick of using spicy sausages in the mix and grilling some slices of pineapple to top them with!

Gluten Free Meat & Poultry

Curry Chicken With Chickpeas & Potato (channa and aloo).

May 27, 2025July 10, 201513 Comments

Curry channa and aloo (chickpeas and potato) is a classic vegetarian curry dish hailing from the Caribbean… with a strong Indian influence. Due to the fact that Indian indentured laborers where brought in from India after slavery was abolished to upkeep the sugarcane industry. I started adding chicken to the mix as a means of adding more flavor and added texture to the mix. Plus it’s a great way to use chicken breast, without it going dry and bland. I may have mentioned that I’m no fan of chicken breast – more a dark-meat kinda guy. In this recipe we’ll cut back on the overall cooking time by using canned chickpeas (Channa) and in an upcoming post, I’ll show you how to use shrimp instead of chicken.

You’ll Need…

1 lb boneless chicken breast
1 can chick peas (about 2 cups)
1 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 scotch bonnet
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tomato
1 teaspoon caribbean green seasoning
2 tablespoon veg oil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 cloves garlic
1/2 small onion
2 tablespoon cilantro (or shado beni | culantro)
2 cups water
1 large potato
2 slices ginger (optional)

Important: If doing this recipe gluten free, please go through the full list of ingredients to ensure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs (specially the curry powder – some brands contain flour as a filler).

Place the cubed (1 inch pieces) chicken in a bowl and season with the chopped tomato, salt, black pepper, Caribbean green seasoning, chopped scotch bonnet (no seeds) and diced tomato. Mix well and allow to marinate for 30 minutes. Remember to wash your hands with soap and water after handling such hot peppers.

In a deep saucepan heat the oil on a low heat, then add the diced onion and garlic and cook (low heat) for about 3 minutes. Then add the curry powder (your fav) and cook for another 3-4 minutes on low. This step we’re cooking the rawness of the curry and highlighting the spices which make up the curry blend.

Turn the heat to med/high and add the seasoned chicken pieces to the pot and stir well. The idea is to deglaze the bottom of the pan to pick up all the curry goodness. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, stirring often. the chicken will spring it’s own juices.. that’s natural.

Add the 2 cups of water to the same bowl you marinated the chicken in to pick up any remaining marinade..we need that. By this time the liquid in the pan will start burning off and you’ll start seeing the oil we started off with. Add the cubed potato (large pieces) and chickpeas (be sure to wash and drain).

Stir well, add the water, ginger and bring to a boil. As it comes to a boil, reduce to a rolling boil and cook with the lid slightly ajar for about 25 minutes. Basically until the pieces of potato are tender and you have a nice thick gravy.

Taste for salt and adjust if necessary (remember we only added salt when we seasoned the chicken) – that was enough for me. If by chance you find that your gravy is too thin, use the back of your cooking spoon to crush some of the chickpeas and potato and it will thicken things. Top with the chopped cilantro (or shado beni) and enjoy (with rice or roti)!

Such a classic curry dish and so easy to put together. Remember in the coming weeks I’ll have something very similar, except we’ll be using some plump shrimp for a totally different flavor – you’ll be blown away with that one.

Gluten Free Meat & Poultry

The Ultimate Grilled Chicken Wings.

May 27, 2025July 9, 20156 Comments

We’re starting the 2015 edition of July’s Month Of Grilling with a serious BANG! If you grew up on the islands during my time you’d know that if you served a guest a chicken wing, that would be considered an insult. A nice thick thigh, drumstick or chicken breast (say chicken chest) was expected, to avoid the mumbles and ole talk after. However, for as long as I could remember I had a weakness for chicken wings. Coming to North america where there’s this ‘wing’ culture… let’s just say I blame my waistline on these juicy morsels of pure delight!

IMPORTANT! I mistakenly deleted ALL the customary images I take to accompany each post I make, to show the step by step technique. My sincere apologies. The written content is here and directly below is the video to walk you through the process.

You’ll Need…

4 lbs chicken wings
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
3 limes (juice)
3 scallions
1/2 cup cilantro (chopped)
1/2 cup parsley (chopped)
2 shallots
4 cloves garlic
2 thick slices ginger
2 scotch bonnet peppers (no seeds)
8-10 sprigs thyme
1 heaping tablespoon honey

* Optional – Lemon or pineapple juice

* If making this recipe gluten free please go through the entire list of ingredients to ensure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs.

Place your clean and trimmed chicken wings in a bowl or zipper lock bag and get ready to make the marinade.

Give the scallions, shallots, garlic, parsley etc a rough chop and place it in your food processor. You can use a blender as well, but I recommend pulsing so you end up with a bit of texture and not a smooth puree. If you don’t have a blender or food processor, you can certainly chop/crush everything fine as possible.

Be sure to wear gloves when handling the scotch bonnet peppers, don’t include any seeds or the white membrane surrounding the seeds -unless you want the raw heat and wash your hands immediately after with soap and water. With all your ingredients in the food processor, pulse for a minute or two, until you have a sort of chunky consistency. Pour 2/3 of the marinade over the chicken wings and reserve the rest for later.

If you’re in a rush to get grilling, try to at least marinate the wings for a couple hrs in the fridge. Ideally if you can marinate them over-night, you’ll get maximum flavors! Basically all you have to do now is grill them as you’d normally grill your chicken wings. I did then over a charcoal flame – indirect heat as the sugars in the marinade would cause them to char very quickly. About 30 minutes, then a few minutes over the direct heat for some color.

Finally I placed the reserved marinade in a large bowl and as I removed the wings off the heat I tossed them immediately in the marinade to coat the wings for that extra BOOST of goodness.. we did say these were the ULTIMATE grilled chicken wings!

Again, sincere apologies for the missing images! This marinade will also be super on pork (especially tenderloins) and shrimp (don’t marinate though).. season and grill – baste as you do. You can certainly do these wings in your oven. 400F on the middle rack (line your baking dish with tin foil and brush with veg oil or cooking spray) – about 35-45 minutes?

Gluten Free Meat & Poultry

Sofrito Pan Roasted Chicken Recipe.

May 27, 2025May 26, 20151 Comment

It’s only natural that after posting the Sofrito recipe a while back, I’d have a way for you to put such a classic ingredient to use. Sofrito is basically a seasoning base made in the Spanish speaking Caribbean which is added to enhance the overall flavor of meats, stews, soups and other dishes. In this recipe I’ll show you how simple it is to take something as boring as chicken breast and pan roast them on your stove-top for what I believe is the most juicy (and delicious) way to enjoy a part of the chicken notorious for being overly dry and bland.

You’ll need…

2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sofrito
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
pinch black pepper
1 birds eye pepper (optional)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

* same size chicken breast 1 lb each so they cook the same time

To learn how to make classic sofrito << Click To Watch!

Important : If doing this recipe gluten free, be sure to go through the complete list of ingredients (including the Sofrito) to ensure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs.

Season the chicken breast with the sofrito and black pepper, them marinate in the fridge for about 1 hour.

Using a non-stick pan (you’ll use less fat) on a low heat, add the butter and olive oil, then add the chicken breasts (it’s ok if the marinade gets in there).

Keep the heat on low as we want this to gently cook so it does not dry the chicken like leather. After about 4-5 minutes, flip the chicken, sprinkle on the salt, squeeze on the lemon juice and if you want, you can cover the pan with a lid. This will sort of steam cook the chicken. In my case I don’t like covering the pan. I also like to add the half of the lemon I got the juice from and 1 Birds Eye Pepper for a slight kick.. to the pan.

Depending on the thickness of your chicken breast, it will take between 20 and 25 minutes to fully cook through. If you add the pepper as I did try not to break it or it will release some fire (unless you want that raw heat) and do flip the pieces of chicken often so you get and even golden color on both sides.

Remove from the pan and allow to cool for a few minutes before slicing.

Such a simple recipe, but I assure you it’s packed with flavor and as I suggested above – VERY juicy! You can season the chicken with the very same sofrito and grill over coals (or propane) during the summer months when you have friends coming over! This is a great way to serve chicken on a salad or as a topping for a sandwich!

Gluten Free Meat & Poultry

Simple Oven Jerk Chicken For Students And Busy People.

May 27, 2025April 22, 20156 Comments

With the busy lifestyle we tend to live and the fact that more and more students are now reaching out for recipes, I figured I’d share this sort of hack or cheat’s way of doing amazing jerk chicken in the oven. Yes, traditionalists will say that you need, smoke, fire and the goodness from pimento wood to really make it “jerk” but when you don’t have access to such, you improvise. In under 1 hr I’ll have you eating the most juicy, flavorful and tender oven jerk chicken you’ve ever had. No Lie! Even your Jamaican friends will be asking you for the recipe when you serve this up at that dinner party you’ve been meaning to have.

You’ll Need…

1 1/2 cups jerk marinade (your fav store bought)
1 cup orange juice
3 scallions
1 scotch bonnet pepper
1 teaspoon grated ginger (optional)
1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 medium onions

4 lbs chicken

IMPORTANT! If you’re doing this jerk chicken according to a gluten free diet, do pay attention to the store-bought jerk marinade as it may contain soy sauce and other ingredients which may not fit with your gluten free dietary needs. There are gluten free jerk marinades you can now purchase or you can make your own marinade.

You can certainly make your own jerk marinade, but it does take time and require a few more ingredients than what’s listed above. Remember this jerk chicken is supposed to be fast, but not hurt for flavors. So go with your favorite store-bought marinade, but lets elevate it a bit with some additional freshness and flavor.

Chop the scallions, thyme, onion and scotch bonnet pepper. Use as much pepper as you can handle and remember to help control the heat a bit, don’t use any of the seeds. Do wash your hands with soap and water after handling such hot peppers. Grate the ginger and get ready to assemble the marinade. Pour the everything a bowl and whisk well.

Trim off any fat and excess skin off the chicken pieces (I used legs with the thighs attached), but do keep most of the skin as it will roast and give it a good color and some wonderful flavor. Since this is a fast-cook, we don’t have time to really marinate the chicken so lets go ahead and make a couple deep cuts down to the bone of the chicken (thick part).

Now pour the marinade all over the chicken and mix well.

Line an oven proof baking dish (I didn’t and it’s a lot of clean-up work after) with tin foil and pour everything into it. Set your oven at 400F and place on the middle rack when it comes to temp. After 30 mins, remove and flip the pieces of chicken, then back int he oven for another 10 minutes. So 40 minutes in total.

After 40 minutes it’s time to crank the heat up to give the chicken some color and really make it attractive. So set the oven at broil (525F), but do keep an eye on things as it will be easy to have it burn at this point. It will take about 4-7 minutes to take on a delicious colour. Remember to flip so you get even coloring. I must mention that most commercial jerk marinades are high in sodium so you’ll notice that I didn’t add any salt, but you can certainty add a bit of salt if you wish. If you wish you can also go with half orange juice and half pineapple juice in the marinade for a more fruity finish.