Tuesday, May 20, 2008 6:28 PM
How do I make marinade from scratch?
Sure, you can buy bottled marinade. But there’s a reason you’re hanging out on the WC board—and it’s not just to earn a Nesticle. It’s because you like to eat, and you probably like to cook. Or, maybe you’re learning to cook.
If there’s one thing I’d like to accomplish as your weekly Dinner Q&A flunky, it’s to get some of ya’ll comfortable with on-the-fly cooking. I want you to be able to open up your cabinets and throw something together without being a slave to a recipe or running to the store to buy more ingredients.
Not only is this a more cost-effective way to cook, it develops your culinary intuition. It builds your instincts for balancing flavors and improvising when you run out of ingredients.
So, I’m starting with the DIY marinade, which is nothing more than a seasoned, acidic liquid that lends flavor and tenderizes the texture of meat. At it’s most basic, a marinade is made of two parts oil to one part acid. 2:1. The rest is really up to you.
This template makes enough marinade for about two pounds of meat.
Oil: 3/4 cup
Oil transfers the flavors of the marinade seasoning to the meat. I use canola because it’s less expensive, or cheap olive oil. Feel free to experiment with other light, neutral oils you have lying around the kitchen, like grape seed, safflower and sunflower. Heavy, flavorful oils like corn, peanut or sesame can overwhelm the flavor of a marinade. A teeny splash of sesame oil will do in a marinade with Asian flavors.
Acid: 1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons
Vinegar: red wine, white wine, apple cider, rice wine, champagne, tarragon, hot pepper
Citrus juice: orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, yuzu
Fruit or vegetable juice: unsweetened cranberry, pineapple, mango, tomato, papaya
Yogurt or buttermilk
Wine
Mustard
When balanced with oil, acid in a marinade breaks down the proteins in meat, which gives meat a juicy, tender texture. Too much acid will toughen the proteins. Use a single acid, or mix them up—mustard and wine, red wine vinegar and lemon juice. (One caution: Yogurt, papaya, pineapple, ginger and kiwifruit contain enzymes that can turn meat to mush if it’s marinated too long. Use a smaller amount, or cut the marinating time by half.)
Seasoning: 1 teaspoon salt, plus 1 to 3 tablespoons herbs or spices
Oil and acid contribute some flavor to a marinade, but they primarily transfer the flavor of the seasonings to the meat. So, this is where you get to start fiddling around with flavors you like. Oregano? Basil? Honey? Tamarind? Herbs de Provence? Citrus zest? Whatever. Sprinkle in a little at a time, taste it and tweak accordingly. The amount you use really depends on the strength of the flavor and other seasoning in the marinade.
Marinade Time: 2 to 3 hours
Here’s how to whip up a lemon-pepper marinade using the template:
3/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Pour all of the ingredients in a large (at least 12 oz) jar with a tight-fitting lid. Screw the lid. Shake vigorously. Add more salt or pepper to taste. Voila! Marinade.