Chicken and Rib Marinade

Our answer

The maple syrup in Nigella's Maple Chicken 'N' Ribs recipe (from Nigella Express) is mainly to provide sweetness. However maple syrup also has a sligtly smoky flavour to it which can be difficult to replicate.

Honey is probably the best substitute to use. If possible use a runny honey which is darker in colour, as it will be slightly stronger in flavour. Several blended honeys are on the darker side, or try using a Greek or Australian blossom honey.

Brown sugar could also be used and we would prefer to go for dark muscovado sugar, or dark brown sugar if muscovado is not available. As brown sugar can sometimes have small lumps in it then we would suggest mixing the marinade ingredients together before adding them to the bag, to make sure that any lumps of sugar have been dissolved.