Winter’s knocking at the door, but if you’re missing summer, you can bring your taste buds to the Carribean with “The Shizzle” jerk marinade.
The visual identity is really cool, the smiling rasta, hemp leaves and warm colors of the label already brings you on a mental vacation.
Instructions of use
The primary ingredient is a pineapple mash, kicked by jerk spices (allspice and thyme) and habaneros. It’s made in small batches, all natural, without any artificial preservatives and MSG and you can see the freshness of the product when opening the jar.
At first sight, the mash is not that appealing, it’s brown like milk chocolate, thick like a puree, but there are lots of chunks and pieces of herbs and that’s really nice.
Austin, chef/owner at The Shizzle told me that the “Original Recipe” is of medium heat with 30 habaneros per 150 gallons batch, while the “Voodoo Hot”, in the range of Jamaican tradition is 3 times hotter with 106 habaneros per batch.
The marinade has a complex perfume that is hard to define. You can smell the spices, the thyme, the soy sauce and you can already feel the habaneros. I couldn’t resist in having a first try with a spoon straight out from the jar. The heat strikes the tongue first, and while it’s moving towards the back of the tongue, it leaves space for the other tones. It’s fruity and flavourful and makes me wanna try it warm. The heat of the “Voodoo Hot” continues to rise where the heat of the “Original Recipe” stops, but the difference between the two stops here.
If you don’t know what to cook with the marinade, the website of The Shizzle features some interesting recipes. I tried the “Shizzled Jerk Chicken Sandwich with Pineapple Relish” but modified it a bit: instead of doing a sandwich, I made skewers (let’s call them shkewers in reference to the shwings– shizzled chicken wings) that I served with the relish and baby potatoes. I let the meat in the marinade for 4 hours and as it was raining, I cooked the meat in the oven.
The taste of the herbs and spices stand out when cooked. The marinade is of medium heat (I would compare its heat level to green curry), the hotness is not overwhelming and stays on the tongue, it doesn’t burn your throat at all and doesn’t cover the other tones. The marinade works great with the pineapple relish which softens the heat and brings a lot of freshness to the meal, which is quite welcome. I love pineapple and cilantro but never tried putting them together, the combination is perfect.
When my wife cooked some speculoos (or dutch windmill cookie – a biscuit made of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamon and nutmeg), the smell of the biscuits fresh from the oven instantly made me think about pairing them with The Shizzle. That’s what I did by coating crushed speculoos over pork mignonnettes which had marinated in The Shizzle Original Recipe for 4 hours. Like the skewers, I cooked them in the oven.
The Belgian-Jamaican fusion was worth the try, the jerk spices and speculoos spice work well together, creating a true winter meal.
If you like a spicy and flavorful marinade and sweet and sour meals, you might be interested in The Shizzle. But if BBQ sauce reigns supreme on your grill, you should go your way.
Website: http://www.theshizzlesauce.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheShizzleSauce
Review by Nick Bauwens
Site Editor, BBQ Sauce Lover, Family Guy, Hi Tech Marketer by Day. He recently wrote the Ebook “How to Market Your BBQ Sauce” which can be purchased on this site.
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