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Articles: How to Use Marinades

Whether you use marinade to flavor, to tenderize or simply to make your grilled food healthier, here are some important points that will help you use marinade wisely.
Food Preparation

Marinate before cooking.

You can marinate meat, poultry, fish and vegetables. Vegetables are less commonly marinated.

Marinade should come in direct contact with the item being marinated. Otherwise it can't work. You can accomplish this in two ways.

Food to be marinated can be placed in a dish and then covered with marinade. If your marinade is acetic (assume that it is unless proven otherwise!), use only glass, ceramic or stainless steel dished. DO NOT marinate in copper or aluminum dishes. The marinade will react with the copper or aluminum and discolor both your food and the dish.

Food to be marinated can also be placed in a self-sealing food storage bag (lock-type baggie) with the marinade poured in and over it. Before sealing the bag, squeeze out as much air as possible. Use ONLY bags intended for food storage! (DO NOT marinate food in plastic shopping bags, lawn bags or garbage bags as unwanted and perhaps dangerous chemicals from these bags can leach into your food. These chemicals DO NOT yield a desirable new taste treat!)
Marinating Times

There is tremendous disagreement as to how long an item should be marinated before cooking. The object of this waiting period is to allow the marinade to soak as deeply into the food as is possible. Some foods will not allow marinade to soak in very deeply at all. Allowing food to remain in marinade too long can produce unwanted toughness — the opposite of what is desired. Much depends on the item being marinated and the composition of the particular marinade being used. When using a prepared marinade it is wise to read the instructions.

Fish and Chicken are tender. Marinating times should be short. Some say no longer than 30 minutes for fish and 60 minutes for chicken. Others double these times. When experimenting with a new recipe and a new marinade, we advise you go with the shorter times.

Meat cut into thin strips will marinate more effectively than thick cuts and require less marinating time. The thinness of the meat allows you to achieve a consistence not possible with larger cuts.

When marinating larger cuts remember that the marinade will not reach into the interior. (Even "puncturing" the meat — a long favored technique — does little good in bringing the marinade to the deep interior.) Be prepared to settle for a well flavored surface and an unflavored interior.

Regardless of the container you use and your marinating time, food should be refrigerated during marination! Bacteria form in marinade left at room temperature. This is NOT desirable.

Also note that marinade that has come into contact with food is NOT REUSABLE due to bacterial contamination. Dump it!

If you want to baste with your marinade, set some aside in a separate container before marinating your food.

If you absolutely must re-use your marinade, BOIL your "second hand" marinade FOR A FULL FIVE MINUTES before using it in any type of food preparation.
Cooking

Depending on the particular marinade being used, heat will have slightly different effects. Certain enzymes that may be present in your marinade are activated at temperatures of from about 140 to 175 degrees and deactivated at the marinade's boiling point.

As the enzymes break down connective tissues in meat (which help hold in the juice!), overcooking can produce a negative effect — mushy on the outside; dry and leathery on the inside.

For the best results we recommend that you refer to the usage guides that come with an prepared marinade. Remember, the chef who developed a particular marinade TESTED it, over and over again, under a variety of conditions, with a variety of foods BEFORE offering it to others.
The general rule when using marinade:

Cook long enough to meet food safety requirements (i.e., to kill harmful bacteria in the raw food!) but do not overcook!

Happy marinating!