All About Marinades

[Guest guest]

Marinades! You can add flavor twists that will tickle his

palette and impress his mom!

 

* Just about anything you prepare on the grill or pit can

benefit from a good marinade. Marinades do two things: (1)

they season, and (2) they tenderize the food.

 

* Most wet marinades help tenderize less expensive cuts of

meat while adding flavor and color. A spice rub or dry type

of marinade, creates a blackened crust and intense flavors.

 

* Different meats have different qualities. Beef marinade

is not just right for pork. Pork needs a little lighter

treatment and is tasty with mustard. Try adding some honey

mustard to the recipe. Fish do well with fresh herbs with

a little oil and white wine. Chicken and other poultry

match with fruit flavoring. If you are going to use juice,

use frozen concentrate, thawed. It's three times as strong

as fresh squeezed.

 

The three main marinade 'families' are acids, enzymes, and

dairy:

 

* Acid bases include vinegar, wine, citrus juice and

tomatoes. Acidic marinades 'denature' proteins, which may

actually toughen chicken. When exposed to an acidic mari-

nade, the bonds between protein bundles in the meat break,

and the proteins unwind. They run into each other and form

a loose mesh. Initially, water is trapped within this pro-

tein 'net' and tissue remains moist and juicy. After a

short time, however, the protein bonds tighten, water is

squeezed OUT, and the tissue toughens! Because of this,

when using a highly acidic marinade for chicken, you may

want to add a little olive oil and/or minimize marinating

time. Two hours is usually more than sufficient for these

marinades!

 

* Enzymatic marinades, which work by breaking down the

muscle fiber and connective tissue (collagen), are another

approach - but may make chicken mushy. Kiwi, papaya, raw

pineapple, honeydew melon and figs all contain protein

enzymes (proteases), but again, may work too well if the

marinating/breakdown of proteins is allowed to continue

for too long! In this case the meat may turn to mush with-

out passing though an intermediate stage of tenderness.

Again, 2 hours is usually long enough to marinate chicken

in this marinade family.

 

* Dairy products such as buttermilk or yogurt are only

mildly acidic and are probably the only marinades that

truly tenderize! They don't toughen meat the way that

the strongly acidic marinades do. It seems that the

calcium in dairy products activates enzymes in meat that

break down proteins; this process is more similar to the

way that aging tenderizes meat than to cooking it, which

is what the highly acidic marinades begin to do!

 

* Keep in mind that the 'toughening' which may occur with

highly acidic marinades and long marinating times is not

necessarily drastic; may, in fact, hardly be noticeable.

If you've found that those overnight-marinated chicken

breasts sometimes seem tough, even a little 'cooked'

(like cerviche), you now know why and can simply lessen

/adjust the 'marination duration' accordingly!