Barker's Marinade - Honey Soy product reviews

For once, I followed the instructions exactly when I used the Honey & Soy Marinade to prepare dinner for four of us. Usually I substitute an ingredient, or vary the cooking method, or add something extra "just because". But when I looked at the printed list of the packet contents, I did not think I could improve on what was already there. They were identical to the items I would include in a similar home-made marinade, but without the work involved in assembling them and/or having to pay a visit to the supermarket to source missing items. For busy people, this is a bonus indeed.

Capsicums and new season's onions are both readily available, so I was able to construct the skewers exactly as recommended in the recipe - alternating with pieces of chicken. I did marinate them for longer than the recommended 30 minutes but I don't think that would have mattered; if anything, it might have made the flavour somewhat more intense, but nobody was bothered about that. The combination was then gently pan fried with enough of the marinade to prevent the skewered food from sticking. After they were ready, I removed the wooden skewers before serving the chicken and vegetables on a bed of vegetable fried rice. The leftover marinade was cooked up separately and added to a small jug so everyone could add some to their rice if it was too dry.

Reactions were mixed. My cousins enjoyed the meal without reservation. They eat a lot of chicken and are always keen to try new ways of serving it. Both of them appreciated the tender meat pieces, and thought that the marinade had made an appreciable contribution to the texture. They also liked the added sauce, describing it as having the same consistency as the BBQ sauce they often have with spare ribs. My partner, however, thought the marinade was not as well balanced as it could have been; the taste was not quite sweet enough. There was an imbalance between sweet and sour with an acidic aftertaste. Of course, different people have different reactions so I am always interested to see how my family members respond to the same dish!

Not only did I enjoy the dish myself, I actually thought there were other ways I might like to prepare it in the future. Although it is designed to be a marinade, I think it would also go well as a dipping sauce for vegetarian won ton or fried dumplings, both favourites in our house. I can also see it blending nicely with falafel, or even replacing olive oil as a dressing for butter beans. Although we are not vegetarians, we do not eat meat more than a couple of times a week, so I am always ready to adapt a recipe to suit - especially at this time of year (late spring) when there is an abundance of fresh vegetables available.

Barker's have done it again and produced another fantastic product, marinades. We love adding a bit of flavour to our dinners through marinades and a happy to have found the new Barker's range.

This time we were trying the Honey and Soy marinade. Honey Soy has always been a favourite in this house and is such a versatile flavour that can be used in many ways. And as always with any Barker's product we know we will be getting a good product.

Barker's have well-designed packaging and this one is no different. I love the bright yellow of the Honey and Soy packaging, it is easily recognised. I love how the product name is in very large lettering on the front, it's easily seen on packed shelves at the supermarket. On the pack, it has the standard information including nutrition information and ingredients. I like how it also mentions what it could be used for, no reason to stick to the known. The packaging is easy to tear open and the 300g is more than enough for my family.

With the Honey and Soy marinade, we decided to make a stir fry. I marinated pork in the fridge for about an hour and then into the frying pan. Then add fresh vegetables and udon noodles and finish cooking. As I mixed it all together, I noticed that the marinade was also coating the noodles and vegetables. As I dished up the kids were straight into their plates telling me how yummy it was. I found that the marinade was quite subtle, just giving a hint of flavour to the vegetables and noodles. The kids commented that the Pork was also delicious and full of flavour. There were no leftovers this night.

Overall, I liked the Honey and Soy marinade. I think it would be as good on chicken as it was on Pork and Vegetables. This will now be our go-to Honey Soy marinade.

We are quite a busy household during the week with work, school, sports, and other activities, so I tend to lean more towards the options that can make a delicious meal in as minimal time as possible. When I saw the Barker's range of marinades, I thought that they would be ideal to have in the cupboard for those times when I can't be bothered, or don't have the time, to make my own marinade from scratch. When I saw the Honey & Soy marinade to request, I instantly had an idea to of course use it with chicken.

The packaging of this product is vibrant and would certainly catch a shopper's attention in the stores, with that strip of white at the top with the Barker's logo contrasting nicely with the bright yellow for the rest of the packet. Barker's are known for their high quality, delicious products, they are a New Zealand company, and this product is gluten-free.

Tearing the packaging open I am met with a familiar smell of honey with soy, to me the soy was stronger, and I hoped that it would not overpower the rest of the marinade once cooked. I got my chicken drums and popped them in a dish, I smothered the marinade into the dish and made sure that all the chicken was thoroughly coated. The amount of marinade in the packet is decent and was enough for our meal. I left the marinade to do its thing in the fridge for about 45 minutes and then proceeded to cook them in the oven.
When it came time to eat the drums, they were a golden brown colour with a sticky texture, the marinade flavour was sweet and delicious, and my fears about the soy being overpowering were squashed.

I really enjoyed the ease of being able to just pour a marinade from a packet and still have a strong, yummy taste, I think this product will be one that we have on hand in the pantry in the future, well done Barker's, another taste success!

In a rush to get out to the garden I pulled out what I thought was chicken steaks to defrost but instead later on in the day found I had pulled out pork steaks. Kind of put a damper on my thoughts for dinner. So instead I decided to cook the pork steaks as they were and then I splashed the marinade on top of the steaks afterwards - and it worked a treat. I did not want to strong of a flavour and only used maybe quarter of the packet and put the rest in the fridge for the following nights dinner. The flavour still came thru beautifully and the meal tasted great. The aroma was also very pleasant.

So, the next night I pulled out the correct ingredients and once defrosted I marinated the meat and put in the fridge for just over an hour. It covered nicely and I fried them up. I added my vegetables and placed with some rice and it worked a treat. The marinade covered enough of the dish and it gave a nice taste.

This is the sort of item I love to have in the pantry. It can go with almost everything and you get a lot in the packet. It smells and tastes great and it is so easy to use - either let it marinade for an hour or so in the fridge or like with the pork steaks you can add it in the very end. I will absolutely be buying this again as it gives even the most plainest meal a lift and makes the meals go just that bit further.

We don't use a lot of marinades in our house as we aren't big meat eaters, but I decided to use this the other night on our vegetarian chicken, to see how it would go. My youngest was in charge of cooking, so I helped her to slice up some asian cabbage, garlic, onion, bok choi and carrots. While that was all cooking, she popped on the rice and then we set to coating our vegetarian chicken in this sauce. We tasted a little bit of the sauce out of the packet and thought it tasted nice enough but it didn't have either of us chomping at the bit for more. Once the veges were a little cooked we added our "chicken" and the remaining sauce and left it to simmer.

Overall, the sauce added a nice flavour to both our "meat" and veged, there wasn't any one flavour in the sauce that we found overpowering and we all agreed it suited our "meat" well, as well as going well with the vegetables we were eating. We did find that we needed to add a little soy and vinegar sauce over our dish, but it wasn't as much as we have needed to add when trying other sauces. The kids all agreed that it was a nice marinade, though I personally felt that I have preferred the flavours of other brands. While I am not in a rush to buy this again, my kids did enjoy it, so I am sure we will end up using it again, next time I may try it on "beef".