Friday, July 15, 2011

Durn Good Ann's Marinade Review - A Very Different Grilling Marinade

Durn Good Ann's Marinade by D.J. Hoch's of North Carolina

If you are looking for a different flavored grilling marinade, then Durn Good Ann's Marinade definately fits the bill.

This is one of the products that I got with a birthday gift certificate my son gave me for A Southern Season which is a really great gourmet food and cooking store in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. My son took me over when I was there to visit, and I had a blast getting products that I certainly can't find here in a small town.

It's hard to find good marinades and especially hard to find any that really are unique. We often use Kraft Zesty Italian dressing which works quite well, but I like to have different flavors so that our foods don't end up all tasting the same time after time.

The Durn Good Ann's Marinade says "A Cumin Spiced Taste Bud Treat" on the bottle. I think that's what caught my eye when I was at the store and browsing the marinade and barbecue sauce isle.

The Durn Good marinade was developed by the owner of the company and was initially mixed up for wild game. It's listed as a marinade for chicken, dove, pork, and quail. The directions call for marinating overnight, but if you're doing boneless, skinless chicken like I did, then you don't need that much marinating time. I just marinated the chicken around an hour.

Grilled Chicken on a Weber Kettle with Durn Good Marinade

When I opened the bottle of Ann's Durn Good Marinade, it definately smelled different from other marinades I'd used. I've never had marinade with cumin as a keynote, and I doubt I would have guessed the scent even though I use cumin in chili and other hearty dishes.

I grilled the boneless chicken breasts as usual sans barbecue saucing, since I wanted to taste the flavor of the marinade.

The chicken smelled really good grilling, and the marinade which also includes soy sauce really browned up nice as the chicken was grilling.

Grilled Chicken with NC Durn Good Marinade

I never say much about the products I'm using when I grill before serving and letting everyone try out the food. I don't want to slant the reactions.

When I took my first bite of the chicken, I thought, "Hum. Yes. This is different."

The guys all noted the same.

It took a few bites to really adjust and get a feel and taste for this marinade, since it's unlike anything else I've put on grilled chicken before.

We continued with our dinner and were just chatting like usual. The plate of chicken was disappearing pretty fast. By the end of the meal, I'd decided that Durn Good marinade was a keeper. I asked the guys what they thought after the meal. Thumbs up all 'round.

If you don't like to branch out much when you're grilling, then you may not want to go with Durn Good Ann's Marinade. It certainly is unique. It took my family a few bites to really appeciate the flavors and react.

It would be interesting to try this on wild game as was the original intent. I don't have any, but I would think the bold flavors would go well with wild meat. I don't see deer specifically listed, but I could see this marinade mixed with my venison mini meatloafs on the grill.

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