What is a Marinade?

I was asked by an acquaintance what a marinade was. So this article explains what marinades are, how you make a marinade and use them in preparing food.

Where does the term marinade come from?

There are several different schools of thought about the origin of the word Marinade. The French word is mariner and the Italian is marinato.

The general view seems to be that mariner is a derivative of the Italian word marinato. Marinato in turn, probably comes from the latin word marina meaning sea. That equates with brine or salt water.

Mariner means to preserve food for use at sea. The food in question was usually meat or fish though it could include vegetables on rare occasions. This was done by steeping the food in a brine which might also have had wine, herbs and spices added to it. As the food was marinating, it infused and absorbed the flavours of the herbs, wine and spices, thereby improving its flavour by seasoning it.

What is a marinade?

A marinade is generally a fluid that contains vinegars, oils, wine, herbs and spices. Foods that have been soaked in a marinade are said to have been marinated.

Food is always soaked in a marinade prior to cooking to give it multiple flavours and seasoning it. In the case of meats, to sometimes tenderise it

There is another form of marinade made in the form of a paste that is rubbed onto the surface of meat. In cooking terms this is normally termed a rub though occasionally you do hear this process being refereed to as marinating. It is however, a different process. More about that later.

How does a marinade or marinade sauce work?

Marinades work by mainly doing two things, they flavour and tenderise. Sometimes they preserve.

To do this, marinade sauces contain three basic types of ingedient. Acidic, oils and flavouring.

Acidic means things like cirtus fruit juices, fruit, vinegars, wines and some spices. These help to tenderise some meats and can add flavour. Examples of acidic agents added to marinades are Tamarind the spice, Acetic acids contained in Lemon juice, different varieties of vinegar such as white wine vinegar, rice vinegar and Balsamic vinegar. These are just to name a few.

Oils also tenderise meat by softening it. They can also add flavour. Examples are walnut oil, sesame oil, sage oil and lemon basil oil. There are a large variety to choose from, or you can make you own!

The flavouring part can include the oils and acidics ready mentioned and almost any herb or spice you care to mention. Commonly used herbs as spices added to a marinade include Tamarind, chilli or chili, basil, rosemary, various pepper and salt.

You can also add other sauces for flavouring. Worcester sauce is commonly used which contains Tamarind.

You can mix and match as you please but always compliment the food you want to marinate both from a flavout perspective and strength of flavour. Too much garlic could be overpowering for instance, especially if it’s infused into the meat!

What foods can you marinate

Marinades can be used on just about any food even fruits when the process is called maceration.

Some examples of simple water based marinades.

If you are making a dish with rice, boil some water with asefetida, let it cool and then soak the rice in it. The rice will take on a nice mild flavour of sauted onions with a hint of garlic. Try the same with Tamarind to slightly sour the rice. Goes well with meat in a rich sauce.

Soak potato’s in water with added cider. The potatoes take on a stunning apple flavout. Great with a pork based dish. Don’t overdo it or make sure no one’s driving especially if your going to have a glass of wine with your meal!

Wattleseed might be interesting to try if your serving caramelised potatoes. I’ll try it and post the results. Better if I have the disaster rather than you.

See the last section called ‘Some combinations used in marinade sauces’ for more examples and ideas for making different types of marinade.

Tips on making marinades and using them

Here are several hints and tips you might find useful when preparing and using marinades.

Containers for marinading

Marinades are usually acidic in nature because of constituents such as lemon juice and vinegar amongst others. Acids can attach aluminium and some of the softer ceramic finishes. Therefore I’d suggest you use a container made of glass, stainless steel or plastic freezer bags when marinating. I’m also wary of plastic containers in case they leave a taste. Probably a totally irrational fear with modern plastics!

I prefer to use freezer bags to marinate in. I either use re-sealable bags with zips or plain freezer bags with re-usable plastic clips to seal the bags so the marinate sauce doesn’t leak out!

Plastic bags have several advantages. They take less room a fridge, they use less marinade to completely cover the food stuff being marinated and its easier to turn meat. Simply push the food (if it’s meat) around in the bag or turn the bag over several times.

Tips for marinading different meats, poultry and fish

When you decide to marinade meat or fish, there are two simple things you should consider. Does it have a strong flavour of its own and how dense is the meat, fish or poultry.

For instance fish genererally has a delicate taste and a light texture. It and can fall apart quite easily if you over cook or steam it. I certainly have!

If you are going to marinade fish, the flavouring of the marinade source needs to be light to compliment the natural taste of the fish. It shouldn’t be too acidic because you don’t particularly want to tenderise the fish’s already delicate texture. The cooking process will do that.

The answer here is to marinade for a short period, say 15 minutes to an hour max. This holds for most sea food.

At the other end of the scale, if you have beef that isn’t as tender as you would like it, you can marinade for considerably longer.

I have marinaded beef for upto approximately 30 hours to achieve the desired affect. Because beef has quite a strong natural flavour, the marinade can be quite strong in terms of both it’s flavouring and acidic ingredients.

So what about all the myriad of meats in between the two extremes.

Light meats like chichen can be marinaded for upto 2 to 3 hours. Pork and Lamb over night. You have to use your own judgement because no two pieces of meat are the same. You won’t go far wrong with the guidelines times I’ve provided and you should adjust them either way to suit.

Another consideration is the larger the surface area of the meat the marinade comes into contact with, the quicker the process. So smaller pieces will marinate quicker. A fish for example has a large surface area. So be sure to turn the meat regularly so the contact is made!

As to flavouring the marinade, that’s to taste. As a rule, complement the natural flavour of the meat, don’t overpower it.

Tips for making and using a marinade

One of the most important things when using a marinade is the consistency of the ingredients in the marinade sauce. It has to be thoroughly mixed before starting to marinate. I use a hand whisk to mix marinades but you can equally use a blender.

First mix all the dry ingredients like the herbs and spices. Then thoroughly mix the fluid ingredients. Finally mix both together to get good consistency.

Something I do but you don’t have to!
Water and oil don’t mix (Vinegar and oil!) so I have a pot of the mildest mustard at hand. If you add the smallest amount to the acidic content first, (vinegar for instance) and then add the oil, they will mix creating a consistent emulsion. Finally add the herb an spice mix and blend well!

Because the mustard is very mild and so little is used, I have found that it adds so little to the taste that it isn’t detectable in the final result. Full detail of this can be found in this vinaigrette recipe. Give it a try and seee what you think!

Left over marinade

There are two types of left over marinade. The sort that hasn’t been used to marinate anything and that which has.

You can save the unused marinade sauce for another day or use it to make a sauce or gravy to go with the meal.

Spent marinate should really be discarded. If you want to use it to make gravy or as part of a sauce, you must ensure that you boil it to kill off any bacteria that may have been in the meat.

Some combinations used in marinade sauces

Pork – Apple cider, Rosemary and basil.
Fish – Virgin olive oil, Lemon juice and Dill.
Beef – Red wine vinegar, tamarind water, shallots and Asafetida.
Chicken – Tamarind water, pinch of Chilli, pinch of garlic paste and white wine vinegar.
Lamb – Rosemary and white wine vinegar.

There are many more herbs and spice you can add to the above.

Take a look at the Chili & Garlic Pork Salad. That contains a recipe for a pork marinade. If you don’t like food too spicy hot, half the Garlic paste and Chilli!

I’ll post some marinade recipes for each meat type on the blog.

Remember that vinaigrettes make good marinades especially home made, when they are fresh. Having said that there’s no harm in trying some of ther commercial dressing available at your local supermarket to get an idea of what you can do yourself!

Any way, there’s nothig stopping you now, a marinade can be as complex or as simple as you like, just be cautaus at first and go for it. Enhance the taste of every meal! Marinades are not as complex as they sound.

Chris Nizzi