Kitchen Tips: How to Marinate Food
Food that has been marinated before we roast will taste better. And marinades we use consist of several condiments, such as salt, oil, vinegar and other spices. When they penetrate the surface of the meat and evaporate during grilling, their flavor will be retained, bringing a rich experience of taste.
There's no denying that marinating owns a disadvantage of getting the food wet. Most foods are prone to brown at high temperatures, with the ingredients in the meat reacting with each other to form delicious golden-brown molecules. At the same time, the meat will be crisp, possessing more flavor and better texture. However, when the surface of food gets wet and the moisture evaporates, browning is less likely to occur.
An experiment performed by researchers was to observe how much meats and vegetables can darken by marinating them with oil, vinegar and salt. The study found that seafood and some vegetables can absorb more marinades, while these seasonings are unable to enter the inside of other meats. It is also hard to go into them after cooking. So the marinades work better with the sliced meat.
There are many steps that need to be paid attention to during the preparation of seasoning food. To make grilled meat taste better, let's talk about some practical tips for marinating safely.
1. Selection of Kitchen Utensils
Acid and salt can react with aluminum, copper and cast iron so that it is best to apply plastic bags or stainless steel and ceramic containers to marinate food. And vacuum sealer bags are recommended to use because most of the meat's surface is in direct contact with the marinade when the meat in the bag is vacuum-sealed. Also, compared with seasoning in a bowl, we can use less marinade and throw away the used bag without cleaning.
2. Application of Marinades
· Salt, the most fundamental but important condiment, can improve the taste with a strong penetrating capacity. Even sprinkling salt only is able to increase the protein's ability to maintain moisture and add flavor. Season thinner areas with less salt and the thicker ones with more salt. It is all right to marinate meat on a tray instead of a bag.
· Typical seasonings include oregano, thyme, cumin, chili powder, garlic and onion powder, as well as vegetables like onions and jalapenos. In addition, sauces, mint and broth are also good choices to freshen the palate. Some sugar can be added to enhance the browning of the food's surface.
· Acids will change the structure of the protein and make food mushy. So the amount of acid needs to be limited to no more than 1/8 of the marinade. Representative products containing acid are juices (e.g. lemons, apples, oranges), alcohol, vinegar, fermented milk (skim milk and yogurt) and some soft drinks that are sugar-free.
· Chef Thomas Keller notes that if you marinate any food with alcohol, it's best to let the alcohol evaporate first. It will prevent the meat from completely absorbing the flavor of seasonings. Hence, to make a marinate with alcohol, we can pour the wine into a pan, add other seasonings and heat them to make the alcohol evaporate.
3. Food Processing
· Sliced and diced food can be marinated faster and absorb the taste more easily.
· The fat in the skin will stop the marinade from entering the meat, and the skin will be soaked softly so that it's hard to brown after being roasted. We had better remove the skin of the meat in advance to make it absorb more flavor of seasonings.
4. Food Security
· All uncooked foods contain microbes and spores which will reproduce in large numbers at room temperature. So it is proper for us to marinate food in the fridge to inhibit the growth of bacteria.
· The marinate which contacts directly with raw meat should not be reused for hygienic reasons.
5. Other Marinating Tips
· The marinating time depends on the thickness of the meat. It takes at most 30-60 minutes to marinate fish and vegetables. And for most meat, 1-2 hours is enough.
· During the process of seasoning, turn the food in the bowl or bag frequently to marinate food evenly.