Marvelous Marinades

About author / Victoria Wesseler

Healthy eating advocate; master gardener; local food expert. Even veggie haters love her recipes.

When you want to add a special touch to a cut of meat, poultry, or a piece of fish, nothing beats a marinade. A marinade is a seasoned liquid containing an acid and herbs or spices. Sometimes it will also contain oil, onions, and/or garlic. Its purpose is to add flavor to the item being marinated and, in some cases, to tenderize it.

Most marinades can be made in a matter of minutes with ingredients that all of us usually have on hand in our pantry or refrigerator. Whether you use a marinade for flavor or tenderizing, there are a few simple points to follow:

• Because most marinades contain an acid such as citrus juice, wine, or vinegar, always place the marinade and item being marinated in a non-reactive bowl or container such as glass, ceramic, plastic, or zipper type food storage/freezer bags. Never use copper or aluminum containers for marinating items.

• Do not use a multiple blade meat tenderizer on fish or chicken placed in marinade. But, if you have a large, thick or fibrous cut of meat such as a flank steak, these tenderizers can be used to break down the tougher meat fibers and allow the marinade to penetrate the meat’s surface.

• Once you have placed the item in the marinade, cover the container with plastic wrap or seal the food storage bag forcing as much air out as possible, and place the container in the refrigerator.

• Turn the item a few times while it’s marinating to get it evenly covered with the marinade.

• If you want to use the marinade for basting while grilling or roasting the fish or meat, reserve some of the marinade in a separate bowl prior to adding the items to it. Don’t use marinade that has been exposed to the fish or meat.

• Don’t re-use a marinade for a second item. Toss it out and make a fresh marinade.

Culinary experts vary greatly on how long an item should sit in a marinade before being prepared. For delicate items such as fish, most recommend no longer than 30 minutes. For chicken, most say an hour. But when it comes to meat, the response is all over the map with some suggesting an hour and others suggesting overnight to a few days for larger roasts.

Once you remove your item from the marinade blot it dry with paper towels before you grill, sauté, or roast it. Leaving excess marinade on the meat or fish will cause it to steam itself rather than develop a nice browned exterior surface.

If you want to add variety to your usual beef, chicken or fish at mealtime, try using a marinade. CDKitchen has over 1800 recipes for them. Your taste buds will never get bored—you could have a different one a day for the next 5 years!

Below are two of my favorite recipes:

Serves/Makes: 2.75 cup

• 2 cups pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped green onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Serves/Makes: 1.25 cup

• 1 cup olive oil
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or dill
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• salt, to taste