Marinating: A Guide to How it Works and What it Does

Once you’re familiar with the fundamentals of marinating, you can ditch the store-bought stuff and make your own with ingredients that are already in your pantry. It’s easier than you might think! Marinades work to tenderize meat, add moisture, and enhance the flavor of food, making tough cuts of meat palatable.

Beef stroganoff recipe

Marinating is a process of soaking meats in a seasoned liquid, called a marinade, before cooking.

• The acid or enzyme used in marinating causes the meat’s tissue to weaken on the surface, so it must be used minimally and not for extended periods of time.

Benefits of marinating meat

Taste/Flavor: With just a few basic pantry items, you can add a gigantic boost of flavor to otherwise ordinary tasting meats and vegetables

• Texture: When you marinate, flank steak can melt in your mouth, and a grilled chicken breast is the juiciest thing in the world
• Moisture/Tenderness: Marinades soften leaner meats that tend to be dry and make tougher cuts tastier
• A marinade is much more than just salt, it uses acid, fat, seasonings, herbs, spices, sugar, and salt

Basic ingredients in a marinade

Fat – transfer fat-soluble flavors to meat and retain moisture

• Salt – help the flavor penetrate tissues and leave behind after cooking
• Acid – weakens surface proteins in meat to boost flavor
• Enzymes – break down connective tissue in meat
• Seasonings – seasonings can be dry or wet
• Herbs – herbs can be fresh or dried
• Sugar – sweetener

Types of food to marinate

Seafood: Fish and shellfish should marinate for only 30 minutes to an hour; any longer and the flesh might start to “cook” in the acid and yield mushy results.

• Chicken: Two hours of marinating is plenty of time for the meat to soak up the flavor. Two hours can be refrigerated for up to two days in the refrigerator
• Beef and Pork: A steak marinade is ideal for tougher cuts like flank, skirt, sirloin, round, and hanger. These cuts can marinate up to 24 hours.

Flavoring the surface

Soaking a piece of meat in a marinade will only penetrate so far into the surface of the meat, millimeters at best.

Preparing foods to marinate

Whole vs. pieces: Marinating works best with thinner, flat cuts of meat, or more substantial cuts if they’re cut into uniform sized cubes or thin slices.

• Skewers: Keep smaller cut-up pieces of meat and shrimp in place and turning them while cooking on a grill

Flavor absorbing inside

Salt first draws out the liquid from the meat by osmosis; then the brine is reabsorbed into the meat while breaking down muscle structures

How long to marinate foods

Depending on the type of marinade recipe you are using, meats could be marinated in the refrigerator for anything from 30 minutes to overnight.

Best Ways to Cook Marinated Foods

Grill: Perfect way to cook up some kabobs or flank steak to slice up thin and enjoy in tacos

• Broil: Shrimp cooked in marinade with garlic, parsley, olive oil, and lemon zest
• Bake: Chicken breasts can get very dry if baked all by themselves

Tools for marinating

Resealable bags

• Zip-top bag
• Skewers
• Whisk
• Bowls
• Baking dish
• A glass baking dish is a good option because it provides the space and surface area without crowding

Health benefits of marinades

Control what ingredients you put in them

Advantages and disadvantages

Time: Marinating some food too long can result in tough, dry, or poor texture

• Adding acid: Lime juice or too much acid in a marinade can dry out and toughen chicken or meat
• Sugar: Marinades containing sweeteners like sugar, agave, honey, or molasses will burn quicker
• Keep an eye on the food and move whatever you’re grilling to indirect heat if it starts to burn

How to safely marinate meat

Marinate in the refrigerator

• Do not use a marinade that has come into contact with uncooked meat, seafood, or chicken
• Use non-reactive materials
• Never marinate in aluminum cookware or aluminum foil

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