Q-CC Pulled Caribbean Jerk Chicken Sliders

Human Chain in Dunn's River, Jamaica

The first time I really thought about the Caribbean was in college, when a friend of mine put on a Bob Marley album.  The reggae trend was about to catch fire in the music scene, with artists like Elton John and Led Zeppelin heading to Jamaica to catch a bit of the fever in their songs, capturing the kicked back feel to the region rather than the politics of the lyrics.  Popular music continues to feel its influence.

St. John's Trunk Bay

The Caribbean is more than reggae.  It's also soft sand beaches and turquoise waters teeming with beautiful tropical fish and coral.  Overriding it all is that laid back feel that the rock stars recognized, but there's also some delicious food.

Fresh caught seafood at some improbable shack on an almost deserted beach like Smuggler's Cove is always great, but it's the barbecue scene at places like Iggie's at Bolongo Bay in St. Thomas that really capture the spice-rich tastes of the Caribbean.

As I have pointed out previously (and did I really need to point out the obvious?), I am not about re-creating the perfect dish as much as getting something essentially comparable on the plate with a lot less mess and in a way that makes it easy enough to actually be an alternative to eating fast food on a daily basis.

Gourmet cooks like my sister can undoubtedly make something that would win hands down in a taste test, but this is pretty good, simple to fix and easy to clean.

Amy and Wes overlooking Magen's Bay, St. Thomas

Boil two boneless, skinlesss chicken breasts over medium heat in a pot with enough water to cover the chickens for about 45 minutes to an hour. 

Carefully remove one breast at a time and put it in a bowl large enough that you don't splatter all over the counter.  Slice the chicken with the grain and then do your best to shred the smaller pieces.  After the first one is done, repeat the process on top of the other shredded chicken.  You should end up with a big bowl of shredded chicken breast. 

If you want to make soup as a side dish, you can throw some fresh cut or frozen vegetables into the water along with some salt, pepper and whatever seasonings you want to make soup, adding noodles or rice for a heartier, starchier dish.  As a reminder, linked here is how you can make soup and noodles (although hopefully you won't screw up the noodles like I did, if you go that route rather than simple packaged pasta).  Since this is a Caribbean meal, you would want to add some hot sauce and other spices like curry, garlic and cumin to make it irie right, mon.

Carpe Diem in St. Maarten

However, I just poured most of the water down the sink, because I only wanted to use one pot, and soup wasn't on the menu for Julie and me.  Earlier in the day, I had walked past Dickie's Open Pit Barbecue and decided I would like pulled pork for dinner but without paying $8.95 for a sandwich and a couple of starchy sides.  I had already bought chicken, so I substituted chicken for pork, which is how we got to the point where I left you with a bowl of shredded chicken.

Put the chicken back into the pot, which should have about a cup to two of water still in it.  If you are using the pot for your soup, then put the shredded chicken in a smaller sauce pan.  The large pot is really too big anyway for the amount of pulled chicken we're making, but why mess up a second pan if you don't have to?

Now Darlene or Emeril would undoubtedly have carefully measured spices and secret ingredients, but I have found Lawry's Caribbean Jerk Marinade is pretty jerkin' tasty for my purposes.  Stir in about a half cup  of marinade (you know how sweet you like your chicken) and then just let it simmer to cook down for a half hour to an hour, stirring occasionally to be sure it isn't burning.

To serve this pulled Caribbean jerk chicken, ideally you have King's Hawaiian Rolls, Francisco French Dinner Rolls, Sourdough Kaiser Rolls or some equivalently delicious dougheyness. Remember that the Caribbean combines the best flavors from all over the world, so any bread works, but for guests, make sure it isn't just flimsy sliced bread.

Wes and Julie at Margaritaville in Ocho Rios, Jamaica

At this point, however, I must make a confession.  I didn't actually make this exact dish.  First, you undoubtedly realize that our low carb approach means that Julie and I ate our pulled chicken on Sara Lee Delightful Bread, which tastes fine but lacks the structural integrity to support the wet, heavy load of pulled chicken, making it somewhat messy.  In addition, Julie doesn't like Caribbean jerk sauce, because she finds it too spicy, so I made the chicken with barbecue sauce instead.  Either way, it's delicious and easy to clean up after dinner.