16
votes
Accepted
can light beer be used as substitute for white wine vinegar in marinade recipe?
The answer to this is: No, beer won't substitute, but another vinegar could.
The main reason here is flavour - beer tastes completely different to vinegar, and would change the flavour profile of your ...
15
votes
Why do you marinade steak with onions?
Onions contain proteolytic enzymes, just like honey and certian fruits, which makes them ideal to help tenderize meat. They are a very common type of vegetable that's low in calories, and have a place ...
14
votes
Accepted
How does velveting work?
I think what's really happening here is mostly physics, rather than any magical reaction between the meat and the "velvet" (i.e. egg and cornstarch; I'm going to use this term for brevity).
The ...
11
votes
Accepted
Oil in marinades
Marinades are exclusively a 'surface treatment'. A penetrating treatment is a brine, and you will not use oils, but rather ingredients like salt, sugar, vinegar etc. which do produce a 'polarity' ...
10
votes
Can I put chicken marinade on chicken after it was almost cooked?
If it's the same marinade you marinated the chicken in, I would be very careful. If it's not cooked to a high enough temperature, it is not safe to eat, as it has been in contact with raw chicken. It ...
10
votes
Accepted
What is the theory of a meat marinade?
First, there are two terms for 'soaking a piece of meat in liquid' and they are often used interchangeably and/or in error:
Marinate: A surface treatment of meat in which the meat becomes coated with ...
9
votes
Accepted
Why does tilapia and swai fish taste like catfish?
Swai and catfish are biologically related, but Tilapia is a Cyclid and as such quite far removed. I think the biological relation is not all that critical to their similar taste which you dislike ...
8
votes
Why do you marinade steak with onions?
In this study they compare using onion with meat over a roughly 30-day period in refrigeration. At the 30-day mark they have a sensory panel compare the 30-day vs non-onioned 4-day meat. The sensory ...
8
votes
How does rub or marinade actually seep into meat?
Some of this has already been said briefly in comments and the previous answer, but since the question is interested specifically in chemical mechanisms, here are a few more details.
The general ...
7
votes
Accepted
Is putting meat in the fridge to marinate necessary?
For a 30 min marinade, no, you don't have to put it in the fridge. In fact, many recipes will call for removing thick beef cuts from the fridge 20-60 min before cooking, to let the meat come up to ...
7
votes
Accepted
Pre pan-fry marinaded meat before oven roasting?
The concept that a "crust" on meat is protection for moisture loss is a myth. So, searing meat before roasting or braising is not a step to prevent drying. You may, however, want to sear ...
6
votes
Accepted
Why did my steak marinade not make a difference?
There seem to be two general expectations for the marinade here: (1) it would tenderize the steak, and (2) it would result in more flavor. The first of these is basically a culinary myth, and the ...
6
votes
Accepted
How does rub or marinade actually seep into meat?
Marinades and Rubs are "surface treatments" only, they do not penetrate deeply into the meat.
A brine is a deep treatment, which does penetrate by way of osmosis.
For a quick explanation of this see ...
6
votes
Accepted
Will a pineapple marinade reduce a beef roast to paste?
Pineapple contains Bromelain, which is "one of the most popular proteases to use for meat tenderizing." Since it's sold as a meat tenderizer, I'd say it really just depends on how long you marinate ...
6
votes
Accepted
Chicken didn't retain flavour from marinade
The scientific foundation for this answer is in the fantastic post pointed out in the comments here.
How can I better ensure that the flavour seeps into the meat more
uniformly?
Basically there are ...
6
votes
Too much wine used in coq au vin
Marinades are generally surface treatments, especially in thicker cuts. With the exception of salt (if any in the marinade), I doubt your chicken has absorbed any marinade. So, your issue is the ...
6
votes
Can I substitute ketchup with tomato puree in marinades?
Ketchup has a very different flavour profile to tomato puree. Ketchup contains tomatoes, but also (from memory and Greg Nickoloff's helpful comment) salt, sugar, vinegar, and flavours like celery, ...
5
votes
Accepted
What is the correct order to both marinate and velvet the meat?
Be sure to look at this related question too: How does velveting work?
Serious Eats just kind of took this on. They added some nice flavor to the velveting marinade, and then sauced the chunks after ...
5
votes
Keeping consistent quality of marinated meat throughout the day in a restaurant
Your question is actually a more general topic under food quality.
The concept is either called stock rotation or just-in-time(for manufacturing).
You simply need to anticipate the need for the item ...
5
votes
Is putting meat in the fridge to marinate necessary?
Food safety. Leaving meat around at room temperature is never a good idea. Two hours is the USDA recommended limit for the whole 'lifetime' of the meat.
It makes little or no difference to the ...
5
votes
Using a vacuum sealer to marinate?
I tried to read a lot about the vacuum marination and was a bit surprised that there are so many different theories out there. One thing that really surprised me is that people talk about marinating ...
5
votes
Can I put chicken marinade on chicken after it was almost cooked?
It's unwise to do that as it could carry salmonella or other foodborne illnesses from the uncooked chicken. Although mopping some on in the last minutes of cooking will be ok most of the time there's ...
5
votes
Accepted
What causes flavors to "marry"?
Perhaps I'm missing some nuance to this question, but the basic answer is that flavors are made up of various chemical components, and it takes time for them to migrate throughout the sauce/stew/curry/...
5
votes
Accepted
Why meat gets tough after soaking it in vinegar solution for more than 24 hours?
Vinegar is acidic thanks to its concentration of acetic acid. It thus has a low pH, somewhere between 2.5 and 5 depending on the type of vinegar. Acidic substances can affect the delicate amino acids ...
5
votes
Accepted
What can I do with leftover "Sweet and sticky" marinade?
The main concern with re-using anything that has come into contact with chicken is salmonella, however as you are talking about using marinade that has been cooked you shouldn't have any safety ...
5
votes
Accepted
Marinade and Smoke Chips
Marinating means that your product will be in the marinade before cooking. It is a surface flavor application. It does not seal in juices, nor does it penetrate the protein. Marinate as you would ...
5
votes
Accepted
Injecting Jack Daniels into pork
It really depends on what sort of end result you're trying to get.
If you don't reduce the alcohol before injecting it, you're going to end up with boozy pork. If this is what you want, go for it.
...
5
votes
How can buttermilk marinade for raw chicken be used afterwards?
I don't know about buttermilk marinade.
You can reuse marinade used for meat if you cook/boil it enough to kill bacterias.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/making-marinades-safe-331649
"The most ...
4
votes
How does soaking liver in milk work?
The milk has caeisin wich pulls out blood and impurties as well as some metallic elements. Same stands for tapia as it pulls out some of the muddy and overpowering stony elements. I have put in 12 ...
4
votes
Using a vacuum sealer to marinate?
Vacuum is quite commonly used in the industry to expel air. When you apply vacuum what you are actually doing is reducing the atmospheric pressure on liquid and soft porous material. A liquid will ...
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