A delightful pot of native Jamaican flavors, the brown stew chicken recipe marries the echelons of taste - sweet, savory and spicy. Before it becomes the highlight of your dinner table, the chicken enjoys a flavorful bath in a unique blend of aromatics and browning sauce, an indigenous Jamaican ensemble assembled from spices and caramelized sugar. The end product is a delectably tender and juicy chicken stew that's bound to take your tastebuds on a roller-coaster ride. This recipe hails from the kitchens of chef Briana Riddock from Forth in Atlanta.

Integral to the Caribbean culinary repertoire is the Scotch bonnet peppers (Capsicum chinense). This nightshade family member, cousin to eggplants and tomatoes, gets its nomenclature from its pod's resemblance to an iconic Scottish headgear - the tam o’shanter bonnet. These peppers feature not only in Jamaican rice and peas but also make their way into Indian-Trinidadian coconut curried shrimp.

Browning sauce, the kickstarter for this Jamaican classic, weds water, caramelized sugar, and spices. Whether homemade or store-bought, it lends its charm to myriad dishes including stews, soups, roasts, and sauces. Whether you're heading to the Caribbean supermarkets or shopping online, securing some browning sauce is hardly a task.

Why not take the gastronomical experience a notch higher by coupling the stew with a robust red like the Viña Tarapacá Gran Reserva Carmenère? The stew, once ready, can conveniently be stored up to five days in an airtight refrigerator container.

For this dish, kosher salt, granulated garlic, onion powder, paprika, black pepper, a whole chicken, browning sauce, ground allspice or pimento berries, white onion, plum tomatoes, green bell pepper, scallions, garlic cloves, thyme sprigs or dried thyme, minced fresh ginger, vegetable oil, Scotch bonnet pepper, low-sodium chicken stock or water and ketchup are all you need. A batch of homemade brown stew chicken is merely a handful of steps away.

The chicken-marinating process requires a seasoning mix that you first prepare, onto which you then add the chicken pieces, browning sauce, and allspice. Onto this, the vegetables, thyme, and ginger are stirred in for an even mix. The mix is then refrigerated for a minimum of half an hour to overnight for the flavors to seep in.

Following the marination, the chicken is removed while the marinade is kept aside. The chicken is then browned in vegetable oil over medium-high heat. The next step involves reducing the heat to medium and cooking the Scotch bonnet pepper and the kept-aside marinade till the vegetables soften. The browned chicken is added again along with ketchup and low-sodium chicken stock.

Increasing the heat takes the vessel's contents to a boil. The heat is then cut down to low for the pot to simmer and the chicken to tenderize and cook through. Fat, Scotch bonnet pepper, and thyme stems are removed before serving and voila, there you have it.

This recipe, a testament to the inherent vibrancy of Caribbean cuisine, previously featured in the Food & Wine magazine's December 2024 - January 2025 issue.