Marinating meat and vegetables is a great way to pack more flavor into a simple dinner. There are a few things you need to keep in mind as you’re getting your marinades ready and while your food is getting a good soak.
What is a Marinade?
{This post was sponsored by Indiana’s Family of Farmers. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Referral links are used in this post.}
A marinade (with a “d”) is a type of sauce that you can soak food in (usually meat or vegetables). The sauce is acidic, and the flavor of the sauce gets absorbed into the food. To marinate (with a “t”) is to soak food in a marinade.
How Does a Marinade Work?
It is a common misconception that marinating meat will make it more tender. This might be true for the very outside surface of the meat. But a marinade is really only absorbed into the outer 1/4 inch of the meat, so the inside of the meat really doesn’t benefit from the “tenderizing” effect of the marinade.
This is how a marinade makes your food seem more “tender”:
- Meat is made up of proteins. Those proteins are like tightly coiled springs, held together tightly.
- When the acid in the marinade comes in contact with the meat, the protein “springs” get sort of stretched and the protein coils loosen up (like a Slinky that’s been stretched out of shape).
- Those loose protein springs relax, but when they do, they bump into their neighbors and get tangled a little bit. Now, instead of a line up of nicely organized Slinkys, you’ve got a whole bunch of Slinkys tangled in a heap.
- Water gets trapped inside the tangled proteins and makes the meat juicy.
When the liquid you’re using for your marinade also has lots of spices and seasonings in it, those flavors also get trapped inside the meat with the water. This is what makes marinated meats so juicy and flavorful, and makes them seem tender.
If you let the meat sit in an acidic marinade for too long, it can actually become very tough. After a while, the bonds between the neighbor proteins (the messy pile of Slinkys) get tighter. When these bonds tighten, the water gets squeezed out. Eventually, you’re left with a dry, tough piece of meat instead of a juicy, flavorful one. For most meats, this takes a few days to happen, so you can leave meat marinating for up to 2 days. Seafood is a different story, and can start to become tough after as little as one hour.
Safety Issues While Marinating
Any time you handle food, you need to keep a few food safety things in mind.
Always, always, always marinate your foods in the refrigerator. (In case I wasn’t clear, that’s ALWAYS.) Yes, most marinades have an acidic base. But that won’t stop all the bacteria from growing when your food is at room temperature. You need to keep your marinating foods in the refrigerator, below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
The best container to marinate in is a gallon size Ziploc bag. You can get almost all of the air out of the bag, which means that you can have as much contact between the meat and the marinade as possible. It also limits the possibility of cross-contamination in your refrigerator. To be on the safer side, put the bag inside a container to catch any drips just in case the bag should leak. (I personally prefer the bags that zip closed, instead of the ones with the slider. I’m always afraid that those bags will leak around the slider.)
Keep your marinating foods on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. This way, if something does leak, it won’t drip down and contaminate everything else in your refrigerator.
If you do use a bowl or pan to marinate in, use a plastic, stainless steel, or glass container with a lid. Choose a flat container, so all the food is submerged in the marinade. An aluminum (or another kind of reactive metal) container will react with the acid in your marinade, and can give your food an off-color and an off-taste. It can also discolor the container, but will not pose any health risks to you. Always cover the container in the refrigerator. This helps prevent against accidental spills. Covering your marinating foods will also help to keep your foods from absorbing any other flavors from the refrigerator.
If you are planning on using part of the marinade for a sauce or a glaze later, it is best to save some in a separate container before adding your meat. Once there is raw meat soaking in a marinade, the liquid could potentially be contaminated by bacteria. Once you remove the meat to cook, discard the marinade. If you must reuse some of the marinade, bring it to a hard boil and boil it for 3-5 minutes before using. This heat should destroy any bacteria that might be present.
Once a food is marinated, it should be cooked right away. If you need to store marinated meat longer than the suggested marination time, remove the meat from the liquid. Wrap it tightly in a clean Ziploc bag or other (nonreactive) container with a lid and refrigerate. Marinated poultry can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Marinated beef, pork, veal, and lamb can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Remember, if you leave the meat in the marinade longer than the recommended time, it can become very tough.
If you’ll be taking your marinaded food with you somewhere, be sure to keep it cool while you’re in transit, and all the way up to when you’re ready to cook it. It’s important to pack your cooler with food safety in mind (to avoid cross-contamination) and to bring plenty of ice to keep it cold.
How Do I Use a Marinade?
Not every piece of meat needs to be marinated. Larger cuts (like roasts) don’t benefit much from a marinade, since the liquid and flavors will only be absorbed into the outer surface. Some cuts (like ribeye steaks and T-bone steaks) are juicy and tender on their own, and do not need to be marinated. (Soaking these types of cuts in a marinade can actually ruin them.) The best meats to marinate are those that have a blander flavor (like chicken breasts or pork chops), or steaks that have a tendency to be tougher (like flank steak or skirt steak).
Your best choices of meats to marinade are small or thin cuts of chicken, beef, pork, veal, or lamb. Most meats only need to marinate for 2 hours to absorb the liquid and flavors from the marinade. Poultry can be marinated for up to 2 days. Beef, pork, lamb, and veal can be marinated for up to 4 days. Remember, meats that are marinated too long can become dry and tough, so be sure to follow the recommendations in your recipe.
Some fish and shellfish can also benefit from a marinade. Seafood is a very “delicate” meat, and should only be marinated for 30-60 minutes before cooking. Marinating longer than 1 hour will give you tough seafood. Some acidic marinades (like citrus juice) can turn seafood pale and firm, and make it appear as if it has “cooked” in the marinade. Marinades cannot “cook” foods, and any seafood soaked in a marinade must still be cooked to recommended internal temperatures.
Vegetables can also be marinated. Soft, tender vegetables will typically absorb the flavors from a marinade the best. Experiment with vegetables like mushrooms, zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, green beans, and peas.
Mix your marinade ingredients together in a small (nonreactive) bowl. Place your food to be marinated in a Ziploc bag, then pour the marinade over it. Zip the bag closed, pushing out as much air as you can. To get even more air out, leave just a small opening, enough to fit a straw through. Suck out any extra air with the straw (be careful not to accidentally “drink” the marinade!). Pull the straw out and zip the bag closed.
Give everything a gentle massage to get the food thoroughly coated in the marinade. Be careful when you’re using veggies – just give everything a gentle toss or you’ll break up your veggies.
Place the bag inside a bowl or container (to prevent leaks), and store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to cook.
The Basic Marinade
A basic marinade contains:
- An acid (vinegar, wine, citrus juice, or yogurt)
- Oil (olive oil, other vegetable oil)
- Salt (soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce)
- Aromatics (onion, garlic, ginger)
- Herbs or spices (rosemary, oregano, cumin, cinnamon, clove)
- Heat (red pepper flakes, hot sauce, chili peppers)
The most basic marinade is Italian dressing. You can simply pour Italian dressing over your meat to use as a marinade, or mix and match the ingredients above to make your own. When mixing a marinade, plan for about 1/4 cup of marinade for every 1 pound of food that you will be marinating.
Enjoy!
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