Pour It
On
Marinades are no-fuss methods to inject your food with
flavor, tenderize even the most inexpensive cut and help
seal in the moisture.
And, it gets better. You don't have to do any work. Well
hardly any - you just pour it on and put it in the fridge.
A couple of hours later, the meat or poultry is ready to
cook. Marinades are great for seafood too; and the infusion
process is even quicker.
There are three parts to any marinade: acid, oil and
flavorings. Here's how they work. The acid (commonly citrus
juice, wine, soy sauce, vinegar or buttermilk) is a
tenderizing agent. The oil (usually olive oil) is a
moisturizer. And finally, ingredients such as herbs,
onions, garlic, salt, pepper and sugar add flavor.
How long you marinade, or immerse, the meat, poultry or
seafood depends on how large it is, how tough it is and how
much flavor you want to infuse. Don't worry, it isn't as
complicated as it sounds.
You'll need to use about a ½ cup of marinade per pound. Use
a glass or ceramic dish (which you'll have to cover with a
lid or plastic wrap while in the fridge), or my favorite -
a one-gallon plastic freezer bag with a zip lock. It helps
to occasionally move the meat around to ensure all parts of
it get marinated. Here are a few broad guidelines on how
long the process will take.
5 lb. beef roast 12-24 hours
3 lb. pork loin 8-12 hours
4 chicken breasts 1-4 hours
1 lb. large shrimp 20 minutes
This involves a bit of planning to ensure the meat is
thawed before you add the marinade. The results you'll
taste are worth it. If you're making the beef roast, pour
the marinade over the day before. Immerse the pork loin
before you go to bed at night or when you get up in the
morning. Pour the marinade over the chicken breasts when
you get home from work. And 20 minutes for seafood - well,
just make sure you don't over marinade.
As with any meat or poultry, remove it from the fridge
about 45 minutes before you plan to start cooking. This
will bring it up to room temperature - something recipes
assume when they give you a roasting or cooking time. (Word
of caution: don't reuse the marinade. Toss out what you
don't use in finishing the dish.)
Most grocery stores sell items which have already been
marinated. They're right in the meat case. You just take
them home and cook. The problem is that the store charges a
premium price - usually several dollars extra per
pound.
Walk down the condiment aisle and you'll find shelves full
of choices. There will be bottle after bottle of marinades
and vinaigrettes clamoring for your shopping dollar. The
prices will vary from about $1.79 for a house brand
(Italian salad dressing will do in a pinch) to $4.50 for a
celebrity chef's line. All in all, a much better deal and
you'll probably have enough left in the jar to make a
second dish.
Want to be frugal? Chances are you're going to have all the
ingredients that you'll need right in your pantry. The cost
is negligible. Basic cookbooks such as The
Joy of Cooking offer good recipes to get you
started. Or, online visit Star Chefs for another wonderful
collection of marinade recipes.
Marinating creates tender, moist and tasty dishes. And the
$10 you save by mixing your own marinade, just so happens
to be about the cost of a nice bottle of wine to go with
your meal. Even better, use a splash of the wine as the
acid in the marinade. It will bring the meal together and
impress everyone.