Cook's Country

[ Theme music plays ] -Today on "Cook's Country," Bryan makes Julia the ultimate Grilled Jerk Chicken, Adam reveals his top pick for grill brushes, and Christie shows Bridget a new recipe for Smoked Chicken Wings on the grill.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

-Jerk is not just a dish -- it's also a cooking method from Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean, and the name refers to the process of "jerking," which means poking raw meat so that spices can penetrate.

And in the local tongue of Patois, "jook" means "to poke."

-The history of Jamaican jerk dates back to the Maroons, formerly enslaved people that escaped into the mountains and formed communities as free men and women.

-A substantial part of the Maroons' diet was jerk pork, which was made from wild boar that was seasoned heavily to prevent it from spoiling and then cooked low and slow, like barbecue.

-[ Laughs ] The Maroons were forced to fight for their freedom against the British for decades, and by the time the final treaty was signed in 1795, jerk had become deeply embedded in Jamaican culture.

-These days, jerk has expanded to include both fish and chicken, but chicken is definitely the most popular.

-And today, Bryan's going to show us an authentic way to make Jamaican jerk chicken at home.

There are several styles of jerk chicken, some being smokier and some being spicier.

Bryan, what kind are we making today?

-Well, we were after a spicy and bold but still subtly nuanced version of jerk paste.

Jerk paste tends to have a laundry list of ingredients.

At the bare minimum, you're going to have scallions, thyme, garlic, and some assortment of warm spices.

It all comes together pretty quickly in the blender.

So to start with the jerk paste, we're going to be going with four scallions, which I'll rip in half with my... -Wow!

-...bare hands.

-Just in the blender like that.

-Just whole like that.

-1/4 cup of vegetable oil.

1/4 cup of soy sauce.

-Huh.

-That's going to add a nice umami kick to our chicken.

Two tablespoons of light brown sugar, to balance out all that spice.

Two tablespoons of cider vinegar.

And now we have habaeros -- two habaeros.

The recipe calls for one to two, depending on how spicy you're feeling.

-What's your call?

-I think this is a two-habaero day.

What do you think?

-Yeah, I can feel that.

-[ Laughs ] Do it.

-It's Friday.

Let's do it.

Two habaeros, just stemmed.

Ten sprigs of fresh thyme.

And again, we're just going to throw those in whole, 'cause the blender's gonna do all the work for us.

Five cloves of peeled garlic.

2 1/2 teaspoons of allspice.

1 1/2 teaspoons of table salt.

And then to round out our warm spice quotient, we have 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger.

Now we're just gonna puree this for about 30 seconds until it's finely blended.

-[ Sniffs ] -Careful, 'cause those habaeros can get you.

-Whoo!

-It's very pungent, you know.

But we're gonna marinate the chicken in this mixture, and that chicken's gonna get grilled, so the grill's gonna impart a lot of flavor, so you want to start off with a very strong mixture here.

So, we're going to reserve 1/4 cup of this jerk paste to brush on the chicken while it's on the grill.

So we'll refrigerate this while we're marinating our chicken.

And speaking of the chicken, we have three pounds of bone-in chicken parts here.

You can use any combination that you like.

And, Julia, do you mind holding this bag open?

-Sure.

-We're going to marinate in the bag.

Okay, now we can add the rest of our jerk paste right to the bag.

Seal the bag and press out as much air as possible.

And then we're just gonna give the chicken a few turns here, so the marinade coats it evenly.

-Now, how long does the chicken have to sit with the marinade to really impart some good flavor?

-Well, you want to refrigerate it for at least an hour, or up to a full 24 hours if you have enough time for that.

And you want to be sure during that marinade time to go in and flip the chicken every so often so the marinade really coats it.

-Makes sense.

-Okay, Julia, so, we have the grill set up.

We've put seven quarts of charcoal briquettes on half the grill.

We call this a half-grill setup.

We're gonna cook the chicken indirectly over the cool side of the grill first, okay?

So, this has been preheated.

I just want to clean and oil the grill grate so the chicken doesn't stick.

So, we have the chicken still in the marinade, and I'll just work right out of the bag.

So, we're gonna put the chicken on here in two rows, alright?

We're gonna put the dark meat chicken -- the thighs and the drumsticks -- a little bit closer to the fire, and we put the white meat chicken -- the breast pieces -- a little bit further away.

We want to make sure we put all the pieces on the grill skin-side up, because we're not concerned with the browning at this stage of the process.

We're gonna cook the chicken over the direct heat after this comes to temperature, and we'll get the browning there.

We're gonna cover this and let it cook for anywhere between 22 and 30 minutes.

In about 22 minutes, you're gonna start noticing that the white meat chicken, the stuff in the back row here, is gonna hit 160 degrees, and we can start pulling that off.

And the dark meat chicken will probably take a little longer, up to that full 30 minutes, to hit the 175 degrees it needs.

Put the vent over the chicken, and we'll come back in about 25 minutes.

Okay, Julia, it's been a little bit more than 20 minutes here, and we're ready to temp the white meat.

-Looks good, Bryan!

-It does, doesn't it?

Great.

It's just over 160 degrees.

That's perfect for us.

Now we're ready to remove that white meat chicken.

And that dark meat's still gonna need a few more minutes, so we'll cover the grill and let it continue to go for about another five minutes or so.

-Alright.

-Okay.

So, the dark meat is ready to come off.

Remember the 1/4 cup of jerk paste that we reserved in the beginning of the process?

We're gonna brush half of that on the skin side and then put the other half on the second side of the chicken.

It's gonna reinforce that jerk flavor and it's gonna allow it to brown nicely.

Let's put it back on.

And when we put the chicken back on the grill, we want to kind of actively manage it 'cause we want to get a light char, but we don't want anything too dark, 'cause it'll turn the spice paste bitter.

So, we're going jerk-paste-side down, and now we can just go ahead and brush the remaining jerk paste over the second side of the chicken.

So, you want to just actively manage this chicken here.

You don't want to let it go for too long without checking each side.

It takes about one to three minutes or so for each piece to brown nicely.

See, it browns pretty quickly.

-Ooh!

-So you just want that light charring on the skin.

As soon as these get brown enough on both sides, just feel free to pull them off.

Okay.

So, there we have it.

We're ready to let this chicken rest for about 10 minutes.

We're gonna cover it with aluminum foil, and then we can finally dig in.

-Can't wait!

-Julia, our chicken has been resting for about 10 minutes, and we are ready to serve.

-Looks so good.

Mmm.

-A piece for you there.

-Thank you.

-Would you like a little wedge of lime to squeeze over top?

-I would.

Thank you.

[ Laughing ] Ohh.

Alright.

-Alright.

Let's go for it.

-Mmm.

That is good.

It hits that balance -- spicy but not too spicy, smoky, not too smoky.

And you can still taste the chicken.

-Yeah.

The chicken's so juicy, too, huh?

-Look at all that juice!

The chicken is juicy, but the skin is nice and crisp and has all that flavor.

-Yeah.

-Bryan, this is amazing.

Thank you.

-[ Laughs ] Thank you.

-If you want to make an authentic jerk chicken, make a spicy marinade.

Let the chicken marinate for at least an hour, but up to a day, if you can.

Build a hot fire over half the grill and cook the chicken opposite the fire.

Brown the chicken directly over the coals, and glaze with the marinade.

From "Cook's Country," a killer recipe for Grilled Jerk Chicken.

Bryan, I'm impressed.

-Ohh!

-[ Laughing ] You jerk master.

-[ Laughs ] -I love grilling season.

Nothing like pulling hot food off of that grill.

But unless you want tonight's chicken to taste like yesterday's fish, you're gonna have to clean your grill grate.

Luckily, Adam's here, and he's going to tell us which grill brush is the right one for the job.

-Indeed, it is the first task of any grilling recipe to heat up the grate and clean it off.

-You gotta do it.

-So, to find out which brush was gonna do that best, we tested these eight here.

The prices ranged from a low of $5 to a high of $35.

-Mm.

-You can see there are two types, basically.

These here all have bristles.

-Okay.

-Different types of bristles -- metal, Palmyra, which is derived from palm trees, and nylon.

And then those three in front of you do not have bristles.

That one has a scouring pad set into a head.

Those are stainless steel coils.

And then there's the wooden one at the end.

We'll talk about that.

-Okay.

Okay.

-[ Laughs ] So, the testers used each of these to clean the grill grates before and after cooking chicken thighs slathered with barbecue sauce on a charcoal grill and hamburger patties on a gas grill.

-That barbecue sauce is like glue.

-Oh, man, does it make a mess.

They also used each one to scrub the grates 100 strokes up, 100 strokes back.

So that's 200 strokes for both types of grills, charcoal and gas, so that's 400 strokes per brush.

Right off the bat, they determined that those that don't have bristles had some cleaning problems.

Why don't you try this one with the scouring pad set into it?

-Alright.

-Tell me what you think.

-'Cause you've also supplied a cold grill with lots of schmutz on it.

-We are indoors.

We couldn't heat up the grill.

-Alright.

Ehh, well, I mean, it's alright until I try to get near the edge.

Although, nah, it's left a lot of stuff in between.

-You raise two good points.

Number one, that one was better for getting the tops of the bars.

It didn't really get between the bars very well.

Number two, this brush and a couple of the others had scrapers attached, but those prevent you from getting all the way to the edge of the grate, and everyone knows that's where a lot of gunk can build up.

-Sure does, yeah.

-So that's a problem.

Now, this one did a little better, but testers found you had to hold it at kind of an odd angle to get between the bars.

Then we come to the wooden one.

When you buy one of these wooden ones, this edge is as smooth as this edge.

And the idea is that you are going to burn a custom pattern into the cleaning edge from your grill grate by running it up and down the hot grate until you make indentations.

Those tiny, little indentations came from 10 minutes of scraping a hot charcoal grill grate.

-I don't appreciate the work.

-You know, not only did it not clean that well, but then you have indentations that correspond to a specific grill grate.

If you ever want to take it to a party to clean a different kind of grill or you happen to have two grills, you need one unit per grill.

You can't go from grill to grill.

And you've spent a lot of money for the pleasure.

That was the most expensive one in the lineup.

-Really?

Wow.

-So, let's move on to those with the bristles.

-Okay.

-Not all bristles are created equal.

Why don't you try this one?

-Alright.

-That's the one with the Palmyra bristles, and they measure about two inches.

-Uhh, the bristles are very long here.

-And the same thing that's happening to you happened to the test cooks -- they got caught on the crossbars, and that was very irritating to them.

This one has nylon bristles.

The manufacturer actually recommends that you not use that on a hot grill grate.

-Oh, but that's the best way to clean a grill grate, is when it's hot.

-We always heat up the grill grate to help you loosen the gunk.

That leaves these three with the metal bristles.

These bristles were about half an inch long, so they slid right over the grates, didn't get caught on anything.

You can see, though, that there are different shapes to the heads.

We have a square one, a rectangular one, and a triangular one.

Testers really felt like the triangular one had a couple of advantages.

Why don't you give that one a try?

-Alright.

Well, there's no problem going across the crossbar here.

-It doesn't get caught on anything.

-And it gets a lot all at once.

-Exactly.

That wide edge covers a lot of ground on the top of the bars.

And then if you turn it on its side... -Ooh!

-...you can go right between the bars and do a really thorough cleaning job with that one.

-I'm busy right now.

Shh.

-Okay.

-[ Laughs ] -You're loving -- You're getting into the Zen... -I am.

-...of grill cleaning.

A lot of grillers are concerned with the metal bristles because there have been reports that sometimes they can come loose or even dislodge, land on the grill grate, and therefore, get into your food.

So testers were super careful looking for that, and they never experienced that phenomenon with any of these three.

-Well, that's good.

-And in fact, they went on to do a little abuse-testing with this one, which was their favorite.

They went outside to the sidewalk and scrubbed the hard cement with 20 strokes, and they never saw a bristle come loose.

-Really?

-So in the end, they actually have 2 recommendations to make.

This one is the overall winner.

This is the Weber 12-Inch Grill Brush.

It's about $8.

It's got those metal bristles that measure about half an inch.

It's got a triangular head, covers a lot of ground.

You can turn it on its side, get between the bars, a lot of power in the handle.

This is a great grill brush.

However, if you're concerned about those bristles, and some grillers are, they're also gonna recommend this guy here.

That is the Kona Safe/Clean Bristle-Free Grill Brush.

It's about 20 bucks.

It's got those stainless steel coils.

It did a pretty good job cleaning.

The only complaint there is that to get between the bars, you have to turn it at sort of an awkward angle.

But if you're concerned about the bristles, that's going to give you more peace of mind.

-Well, it seems like you still have to do some work over here.

-[ Laughs ] I'll trade places with you.

-There you go.

Our winner is the Weber 12-Inch Grill Brush.

It's about $8.

Or if you're worried about bristles, then go with the Kona Safe/Clean Bristle-Free Grill Brush.

It retails for about 20 bucks.

Smoking large cuts of meat is pretty straightforward because you have to take lots of time to get a balanced level of smoke into the meat, but what happens when you want to smoke a small piece of meat?

Even tiny, like chicken wings?

Well, you call in a professional -- like Christie, who actually competes on barbecue circuits.

Right?

-Yes, I do.

Yes, I do.

But it's no competition today.

-Okay.

-We work together.

You're so right -- cooking over woodsmoke is about low and slow, to give meat time to absorb that flavor and cook evenly and render fat.

So these are all important things.

-Sure.

-The problem with chicken wings is that while they have lots of skin and lots of fat, they're actually mostly white meat.

We really need to help that white meat out to stay moist.

-Okay.

-So, we're gonna take care of that, but first, let's talk about flavor.

-Alright.

-We're starting with some very classic, traditional flavors in this barbecue rub -- little heat, little sweet, some earthiness.

So I'm starting with two teaspoons of paprika.

Two teaspoons of chili powder.

1 1/4 teaspoons of dried oregano.

1 1/4 teaspoons of garlic powder.

And 1 1/4 teaspoons of pepper.

Also a teaspoon of sugar -- I said a little sweet.

And 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne for a little heat.

-Little heat.

-Mm-hmm.

I'm just gonna stir this together.

Super simple, but that's the first way that we'll flavor the chicken wings.

-Alright.

-Now I am going to take out one tablespoon and set it aside for later.

Now we're going to start with the brine.

-Okay.

-So, I have two quarts of cold water, and to that, I'm going to add 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of table salt.

-Okay.

-Obviously, that's going to flavor the chicken wings somewhat, but really it's gonna help it hold on to those juices while it cooks.

-Great.

-Okay, just to dissolve.

Now we can move on to the wings.

So, I have three pounds of chicken wings here, and I've already prepped most of them.

So we're going to cut off the wing tip and discard that, because there's really no meat on there and it's just gonna burn.

And then we'll separate the drumette from the flat.

If you have to hack at it a lot, you're just not in the right space.

-You're not over the joint.

-Right.

So there we go.

Now they're gonna go into the brine.

Now, I have a piece of plastic wrap here, so we're just gonna cover these tightly and then get them in the refrigerator for at least an hour or up to three hours.

We are going to focus on our sauce.

So, I have four tablespoons of unsalted butter that I've melted in my small saucepan over medium-low heat.

Now, we set aside that tablespoon of the dry rub... -Right, right.

-...and I'm going to add it now because we want to bloom it in the butter, and we just want to cook this for about 30 seconds.

-Gotcha.

-The second ingredient is two tablespoons of cider vinegar.

We just wanted to add a little tanginess.

So we just want to let this come to a little bit of a simmer.

It's already starting to bubble around the edges.

Alright.

I'm going to remove it from the heat.

Now I'll add some ketchup -- this is two tablespoons.

And 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

So, I'm just going to cover it, and we'll set it aside, and we'll heat it back up before we're ready to serve.

-Alright.

Sounds great.

-So, now let's get back to the chicken wings.

So they were in the refrigerator for about two hours.

I've already patted them dry on one side.

Just going to pat them on this side.

Now I'll sprinkle the rest of the spice rub.

We'll put half on one side and then we'll flip the wings over and get the other half on the other side.

-Alright.

-I think we're ready to grill.

-Sounds good.

-Bridget, I'm getting the grill all set up.

I've opened the bottom vent all the way -- -Okay.

-So you get lots of air in there -- and I've lit a large chimney that I've mounded with charcoal briquettes, 7 quarts.

Before we put that all together, let's make the wood chip packet.

-'Cause these are smoked wings.

-Right.

-Right.

-So, I have two cups of hickory chips, and I've soaked those for about 15 minutes just to get them saturated so that we can control the burn and the release of the smoke.

We want smoke over a long period of time, not all at once at the beginning.

-Right.

-So I'm looking for about an 8x4 1/2 rectangle.

-Mm-hmm.

-So, I'll fold this over.

I do want some way to release some of that smoke.

-Right.

-So I'm going to cut two two-inch-long slits evenly spaced across the packet.

-Alright.

Okay.

-So, we are ready.

My briquettes are good.

We just want to see them partially covered with ash.

-Okay.

-So, I'm going to place the wood chip packet on one side of the grill.

And now I'm going to pour all of my coals over that side of the grill, directly over the wood chip packet.

Okay, now we'll put the grate on top, and we'll cover it.

And then just make sure that the vent on top is all the way open also.

We'll let these grill grates heat for about 5 minutes, just to get nice and hot.

It's been about 5 minutes, and we know that everything's getting hot in here 'cause we can see the smoke coming out.

So, now I'm going to get this thing cleaned up, and then we can start on the chicken.

-Alright.

-We'll just clean this with the grill brush.

Okay, now we'll oil the grill.

So, I have the flats and the drumettes.

-Right.

-We're going to start with the flats, and we'll put these on the cooler side of the grill as far away from the flame as possible.

-Okay.

-With the fat side up.

Okay, now I have the drumettes, and we'll put these ahead of the flats.

Now, the reason is, the drumettes have a lot of meat, so I'm putting these with the bone towards the flame.

I'm going to put my lid on top.

Now we're gonna let these go for a while, about 40 minutes.

We're looking for them to be nice and dark and a temperature of about 180 degrees.

-Okay.

-So, 40 minutes, but I'm going to come in about halfway and flip them all over.

-Okay.

-We're almost done.

-Alright.

-[ Laughs ] -Let's see those smoky wings.

Ooh!

They look beautiful.

-Look at this.

Yes.

These were 40 minutes covered.

I did come and flip them halfway through.

-Okay.

-So, I am gonna temp them.

We're looking for about 180 degrees.

Right there.

Looks good.

Now we want to get some good spotty char on these, but I'm only going to move the drumettes over.

-Alright.

-So we'll just let these go, uncovered this time... -Okay.

-...about a minute to three minutes on each side.

-Okay.

-And we're just looking for some nice spotty browning.

Ooh.

See?

-Ooh.

Yes.

-It doesn't take very long.

-Absolutely beautiful.

-Okay, so we have some nice charring on both sides.

-Beautiful.

-So I'm going to move the flats over to the hot side.

If you wouldn't mind just tenting it lightly with the foil.

-Okay.

[ Foil crackling ] -So now we'll just cook this half over the hot side for about one to three minutes on each side, till they're nice and charred.

Bridget, I've just heated up the sauce over medium heat for about two minutes.

I wanted to loosen it just a little bit and make sure that it wasn't cold when we tossed it with the chicken.

-Gotcha.

Okay.

-So now I'm going to transfer to a big bowl, because we're gonna toss all those chicken wings in this.

Now we'll take our wings.

The sauce is really gonna... -Ohhhhhh.

-...take 'em to another level.

So you can see it's not really thick.

It just kind of... -It's a glaze, almost.

-...gives us a nice glaze on the wings.

-Alright.

There you go.

-Thank you very much.

-[ Sighs ] Those are beautiful.

-Okay, I'm going to take a guess.

You are such a flat girl.

-100 percent a flat part.

Yeah.

-[ Laughs ] Do you even want to try a drumette?

-Yes.

Of course.

-Okay.

Alright.

You know, people fall into one of the two camps, and I got to say, I kind of -- I like the drummies.

-Yeah?

Well, good.

Then there's plenty for both of us.

-[ Laughs ] -It's that little bit of meat right in between those two bones on the flats, it's just perfection.

[ Crunching ] -Mmm.

-Mmm.

-It's such good smokiness.

-Perfect amount of smokiness.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's not just on the outside.

It's actually permeated into the meat, but just enough.

-And the sauce, the flavors just balance really nicely.

I feel like I taste chicken, I taste smoke, and I get the other flavors, but they don't overpower it.

-Well, it takes a champ to make a winner like this.

Thanks, champ.

-[ Laughs ] -You can be a champion at home, too, with these great wings, and it starts with a brine.

Make a spice mixture and cook some of the mixture with butter and vinegar, stir in ketchup, and then sprinkle the wings with the remaining spices.

Pour hot coals over a wood chip packet, then smoke the wings over the cooler side of the grill.

Char the wings over the hot side for a moment, toss with the sauce and serve.

So, from "Cook's Country," a champion of a recipe, Smoked Chicken Wings.