Summer Cooking: How to Marinate

Everyone loves to have their favorite foods cooked to perfection on the grill. And learning how to marinate is an important step in achieving this perfection. Marinating is a cooking method - or at the very least an important prelude to many cooking methods - that needs to be understood in itself. It is much more than simply soaking your favorite meat in your favorite salad dressing before slapping it on the grill. Or at least it should be! There are some tricks to getting it right and lucky for you, they are simple and you will learn them right here!

Marinating is done to add flavor, add moisture and to tenderize meat. Learning how to marinate will improve your cooking because it opens up a whole new level of creativity in cooking. There are limitless ingredients and one simple procedure. It makes for a very simple everday cooking solution that incorporates a seasonal favorite - grilling outdoors! The trick is to take your favorite meat and make up a marinade for it on the spot - based on what ingredients you have on hand and your desired flavor profile. The formula may always be simple and always be the same, but the variety of ingredients will ensure that you are never bored!

In learning how to marinate, one of the things to determine is what meat you plan to use. A common mistake is to exaggeate the meat tenderizing properties of marinating. Yes, marinating will provide SOME tenderizing - but only some. You still cannot take shoe leather, marinate it and cut it with a butter knife. It's not gonna happen and expecting that will only produce those disappointing results I mentioned before. Like anything else you cook, it is always best to start with good ingredients - considering the end result you desire. In addition, muscle tissue will absorb marinade better than fat tissue so using an overly fatty piece of meat will result in very little marinating actually getting into your product.

Many people start marinades with an oil. Salad dressing is a popular marinade, after all. Adding oil is also an option, but keep in mind that the oil itself will not be drawn into the muscle tissue. Oil in this case is used solely for flavoring so if you use an oil, choose a flavored oil. In most marinades, the essential ingredient is an acid, which acts as a slight tenderizer. The type of acid you choose is completely open to your creativity and the type of dish you are making. Wine, lemon juice, tomato juice, balsamic vinegar, orange juice pineapple juice and margarita mix are all fairly common acids that work great in marinades. Fresh herbs can also add flavor to marinades. When using herbs, remember that whole herbs release their flavor slowly so they work best for long marinades. If you are going with a quicker marinade, grind up the herbs before use to impart their flavor more quickly. The key to cooking success is to learn the basic cooking methods and then let your taste, imagination and your unique situation be the guide for making up your very own marinade recipe.

We started the marinating process trying to add moisture to our product. We don't want to lose any moisture now, so always place the product you are marinating with the marinade in an air-tight container. This container should also be acid-resistant, meaning it won't react with the acidic ingredient and potentially make somebody sick. Glass, ceramic and stainless steel meet this criteria. Aluminum, copper and pewter do not - don't use them in marinating! Always store the container in the refrigerator for the entire marinating process. In these ways, you are ensuring food safety throughout the marinating process, which will vary in length depending on how much time you have and the cut of meat you are using. Finally, remember to always discard the marinade after you have finished marinating and never re-use the marinade during the cooking process because it has had raw meat soaking in it for a length of time.

What marinade will you make this weekend? Relax. You know how to marinate and you've got a whole summer of delicious experimentation ahead of you!