Marinades
What Is A Marinade?
• A marinade is a liquid that has been seasoned and is used to flavour (and usually to tenderize) meat, fish, and vegetables.
• The liquid may be wine, fruit juice, vinegar, or any combination of these, along with spices, herbs, or other flavouring agents. Oil, such as olive oil, is often included as well.
• Marinades usually have a low pH, which means that they are acidic. It is the acidity that helps to tenderize the meat.
• Ingredients that are suitable for supplying acidity to marinades: wine, vinegar, soy sauce, citrus juice, buttermilk, or yoghurt.
How Do Marinades Work?
• All the elements in a marinade: the liquid base, the herbs and spices, and the oil, help to flavour the food, with the exception of a totally neutral vegetable oil.
• The acids in a marinade permeate tissue and break down tough fibres, thus tenderizing meat.
• The oil in marinades adds succulence to food and gives it flavour.
• Some marinades work in an entirely different way. Some fruits, notably papaya, grapefruit, and pineapple, have natural enzymes that will degrade tough connective tissue by a process called 'enzymatic reaction'. Meat left too long in one of these marinades will be tenderized to the point of being mushy.
Which Cuts Need To Be Marinated?
Cuts that:
• Are tough
• Have a low fat content, or
• Have little natural flavour
When to Use Marinades
• When the meat in question is too tough to be cooked in its natural state. For example, a pork shoulder butt chop or a beef flank steak have excellent natural flavours, but are too tough for most consumers unless they have been tenderized.
• Some low-fat cuts, pork tenderloin for example, tend to dry out and become tasteless when over-cooked. Adding oil to a marinade will counteract this.
• Other cuts are both relatively tough and low-fat, pork leg cuts for example. These require both an acid and an oil.
How to Choose a Marinade
• A less tender cut of pork that has plenty of fat requires more acid and little or no oil.
• A tender, but low-flavour cut needs a marinade with plenty of flavour and some oil.
• A cut that is less tender and is also low in fat needs acid, flavouring agents, and oil.
• Most commercial vinaigrettes and salad dressings, as they are mixtures of oil and vinegar, can make excellent marinades. Do not use mayonnaise-based dressings.
Selecting Containers and Materials
• Do not use containers that may react with the acid in a marinade: Bowls and rectangular baking dishes made of glass, enamel, porcelain, or treated aluminum, are ideal for marinades. Do not use aluminum foil.
• Select pans in which the meat sits snugly and lies flat. The marinade should come up around the edges of the meat, but need not cover it.
• Meat and marinade can be put into a sealable plastic bag ¬ a zip-loc is ideal. Squeeze out most of the air, seal tightly, and place in a bowl. Turn bag from time to time to distribute marinade. This is the perfect method for larger cuts.
How to Use Marinades
• If you are planning to marinate for only a short time, mix the marinade an hour in advance to allow the flavours to infuse and mellow.
• Always refrigerate food that you are marinating.
• Either completely cover meat with marinade, or turn meat over occasionally to ensure complete and even marination.
• Do not add salt to a marinade, as it draws out the moisture essential to keeping meat juicy and tender. Salt food only after it is cooked.
• Any marinade can be used to baste foods during cooking to add moisture and flavour.
• Do not use marinades for basting or as a sauce in which meat has been marinating (it can harbour unsafe bacteria) unless the marinade is brought to a boil and simmered for at least 10 minutes. If you want to use the same marinade to baste the meat while cooking, reserve a cup or so of marinade for that purpose.
• Do not leave meat in marinade too long; the meat may lose texture through a too lengthy exposure to acidic components, and the natural flavour of the meat may be overwhelmed.
Rubs
What is a 'Rub'
• A Rub is a spice and/or herb mixture applied to meats to flavour and, less often, to cure them before grilling. It is difficult to decide where 'seasoning' ends and 'rubs' begin. In general, rubs are a mixture of several flavouring ingredients that are blended to a paste, rubbed onto meat which is then roasted or grilled, usually over a low heat.
• Rubs sometimes have a great many ingredients or as few as three.
• Once made, dry rubs can be stored in a sealed container for up to 6 months before they start to lose their flavour.
• Rubs to not tenderize meats to any significant extent.
How do Rubs Work?
• Rubs combine with the juices drawn from the meat and work like a dry marinade.
• Rubs do not penetrate as deeply as marinades, but they have a more concentrated flavour.
Which Cuts are Suitable for Rubbing?
• Any cut that is being cooked with dry heat (roasting or grilling especially) that would benefit from additional topical flavour.
How to Choose a Rub
• The number of possible rub recipes can be overwhelming. Have a careful look at the main ingredients, which will give you an approximate idea of what flavour will result.
• If a rub recipe is called 'Mexican' or 'Madras' rub, this is quite a clear indication of both flavour characteristics and spiciness.
• A delicate or mild cut, like pork tenderloin, will require a less assertive rub than a stronger-flavoured cut, like ribs for example.
• Rub formulas can be bought ready-made, made from an existing recipe, or made from scratch according to individual taste and inventiveness.
How to Build Your Own Rub
• Unless brimming with confidence, don't try to reinvent the wheel. Start with an existing rub formula and then adjust gradually ingredients and proportions as you acquire experience and confidence.
• For best results use whole spices like coriander, cumin, anise, mustard, caraway, etc. Toast the spices for a few minutes in the oven, and then grind them in an electric coffee mill.
• All rubs require at least a small amount of salt.
• Rubs with sugar, or a sweet component, will not only sweeten the meat, they will also caramelize when cooked, giving a pleasant colour and distinctive flavour.
• Store rubs in an airtight container, away from heat and light.
How to Use Rubs
• Rubs can be applied to meats just before cooking, or left on for up to 24 hours. If the rub is in contact with meat for any longer the salt will begin to dehydrate the meat.
• Curing meat with a rub takes considerably longer, at least 48 hours. The curing process is more an industrial than a domestic endeavour and is not described here.
• Always refrigerate meat if not cooking immediately.
• Apply only as much rub as will adhere to the meat.
• If meat is too dry to allow the rub to adhere, lightly coat with oil beforehand.
