A marinade is best way to elicit flavor, tenderize and create a tasty crust
To marinate, or not marinate that is the question!
What is the best way to add flavor to meat? Brining, a rub or marinade, all impart flavor, but in different ways. While I like to add rubs to ribs and a pork shoulder that I am going to cook for extended periods of time, my favorite way to add different types of flavor, both subtle and bold, is through a process called marinating.
Let's start by clarifying terms I will admit to having used interchangeably in the past; Marinade vs. Marinate.
A marinade (noun) is a liquid mixture, usually containing something salty, seasonings, and sometimes an acid of some kind, in which meat is soaked in before cooking.
Marinate (verb) is what you do with the marinade; Meat marinates in marinade — say that three times!
Now that we have that straight, let's muddy the water a little more and talk about brining; the process of soaking meat in salt water, and sometimes sugar, a mixture to add flavor, tenderness, and often moisture. Brining has become a very popular treatment for Thanksgiving turkeys. The key is the salted water must have a higher concentration of salt than the item being brined for the additional salt (flavor) to be absorbed.
I recently learned the food gurus at Cooks Illustrated magazine coined a new word to describe a marinade that has enough salt to act as a brine; brinerade. When I heard this, I realized that my favorite marinades, the ones I believe coax out the most flavor, are all brinerades. Genius!
So how do marinades work? According to amazingribs.com, marinades are primarily a surface treatment, especially for thicker cuts of meat. Only the salt penetrates deeply into the meat, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't add other things to you marinade. My favorite “salt enhancer” is soy sauce.
Spices are key to adding seasoning that will be enhanced by the salt the meat will absorb. The added spices are where your meat can transform from Asian by adding chili paste and oyster sauce to American BBQ with hints of garlic, cumin and maybe a little dry mustard.
The last key ingredient to a balanced marinade is a little bit of sugar which will aid in creating a nicely crusted and browned finished product, but be careful not to add too much, or your meat will burn prematurely.
In a pinch, I have used several varieties of bottle salad dressings as marinades. Italian and other non-creamy varieties work well but be careful not to use Caesar, as the cheese keeps it from working well.
My favorite marinades are homemade. Some have more ingredients than others, but some are simple like equal parts of soy sauce and pineapple juice, or two parts soy sauce and one part apricot jam, both great on chicken and flank steak. Try the latter on a boneless skinless chicken breast strips wrapped with a piece of bacon as an entree, or a mini version as an appetizer. For variety add a little fresh or dried ginger or chili paste to either blend.
The marinade I use most often, the Many Use Marinade (I know, not a very original name, but very descriptive) is a mixture of soy, ketchup or chili sauce, and a bunch of other things I'll bet you have in your pantries like dried oregano and parsley. While it doesn't contain any sugar, as I suggested earlier, it tops the charts in flavor for a savory marinade and is a family favorite especially with flank steak or pork tenderloin.
No matter what marinade you use there are a few tips to consider:
• It is not a good idea to marinate in metal containers, instead, try a zip-top bag, squeezing out as much air as possible before sealing. It is perfect for easy clean up and distributes the marinade well among whatever you have inside.
• Remove skin and fat from protein before adding the marinade.
• If you'd like a crispy finished product, dry the meat before placing it on the grill.
• Be careful when using acid in marinades. You may want to monitor your “soaking time” since too much acid contact can start to degrade the texture of the meat causing it to be mushy.
Hopefully, these tips will help you either replicate or create your own, marinade just in time for grilling on Father's Day or some other beautiful day this summer.
• Penny Kazmier, a wife and mother of four from South Barrington, won the 2011 Daily Herald Cook of the Week Challenge.