If you ask anyone, even the most experienced cook, which one he has the most favorite marinade for meat, it is unlikely that he will be able to get a clear answer. Indeed, over many centuries of its existence, mankind has accumulated simply an incredible number of recipes for their preparation. Yes, we didn’t make a reservation. For centuries. Because the pioneers in this matter were still the ancient Egyptians. To preserve the freshness of the meat, they dissolved sea salt in water, and then soaked it in this brine. Later, in southern Europe, salt was replaced with vinegar. And this cookery was so popular with the culinary experts that even today, despite the abundance of recipes, it finds its application. Over time, people thought of adding all kinds of seasonings - herbs, spices - which gave the pickled meat a special taste.
The main components of marinades
Any marinade that exists today for meat is simply required to have three basic ingredients. It is flavoring, any acid and fat.
The acidic environment makes the meat fibers soften, as a result of which the finished dish is more tender. Fat (usually this oil) envelops the meat, as a result of which the juice remains inside during cooking. Well, with flavors and without explanation, everything is clear. They add aroma and finished taste to the dish.
And now a few words about each component. As an acid, as a rule, all types of available vinegar cookery are used. Also great for these purposes is kefir, yogurt, juices of sour fruits (lime, lemon, pomegranate). Mayonnaise, which, in fact, contains all three basic ingredients (if it is with aromatic additives), also proved to be good.
As for fats, it all depends on the "nationality" of the cuisine. So, in the Mediterranean, olive is preferred, and sesame is often used in the East.
Perhaps the mentioned nationality affects the type of aromatic additives. For example, in Chinese cuisine, almost every second meat marinade contains garlic, green onions and ginger. The French like to add vegetables (carrots + onions + celery). Mexicans adore hot marinades, so almost all of them have hot peppers.
In general, by and large, marinade for meat is a fertile ground for the activity of a cook. Here you can experiment and create your own masterpieces almost every day, without forgetting, however, about the basic rules of pickling. What, in fact, will be discussed later.
Basic principles of pickling
As a rule, almost every marinade used for meat does not require cooking. But there are exceptions. Let's say the French make marinade from boiled red wine, adding juniper to it. But Mexicans sometimes bake their favorite peppers before adding to the sauce to give the marinade a richer, slightly smoked taste.
As for dishes: you need to take containers that do not respond to acid. For this reason, metal or aluminum cookware will not work. Take containers made of porcelain, clay or glass. It is not necessary for the marinade to completely cover the meat. Pieces can from time to time simply turn over or interfere.
About the cooking time. Follow the requirements of the recipe. The principle of "let it stand still a little" is not suitable here. The meat that has been in the marinade for too long can simply become tasteless, sour.
And the last one. Before directly the cooking process itself, be sure to pickle the marinade from the pieces. Because wet, for example, on the grill, they will rather stew than fry.
And remember: you can’t reuse the marinade. It has too many bacteria. Even if you want to water it, say, barbecue, do not be lazy, put the composition in a saucepan on the stove and quickly bring (but do not boil!) To a boil. Believe me, you'll be healthier.
Well, on this, I think, enough theory. Let's move on to practice. So, the recipes for marinades for meat. Begin!
The easiest way
Naturally, it will be a marinade for meat with vinegar. By and large, almost everyone who prepared the barbecue, previously held it in this composition. What, in fact, gives such a marinade? Soft meat. No more. But sometimes this is enough.
For cooking, we need three hundred grams of onion, a glass (250 milliliters) of ordinary vinegar (nine percent), peas of black pepper and, of course, salt. It will not be superfluous and a seasoning bag - special, especially for barbecue.
How to cook
Pork (preferably) is cut arbitrarily, into pieces of the size we need, we put the meat in a container. Mix the onion cut by the rings with seasoning, salt and, of course, vinegar, add all this to the meat. Then we add water (cold, but boiled) so that the marinade completely covers our future barbecue. Pour peppercorns there, you can add a couple of laurel leaves. Everything. We put in the refrigerator all night. In the morning you can go on a picnic and grill kebabs.
Complicating the composition
As we have already mentioned, preparing a marinade for meat is a creative process, and therefore, nothing prevents us from perfecting the first recipe. Why take the same onion (three large pieces will be enough), four cloves of garlic, three teaspoons (do not overdo it!) Of sweet paprika, a pinch of hot pepper, a large lemon and a couple of tablespoons of banal sunflower oil. A bunch of parsley will not be out of place.
Cut the onions into rings and mix it with finely chopped garlic. Add peppers, pour in oil, salt, squeeze juice from our large lemon. Leave for thirty minutes. During this time, it will just be possible to prepare the meat - wash and cut into pieces of the desired size. And after the specified time has passed, add the meat to the marinade we have prepared, after which we forget about it until the morning. As for parsley, it can also be cut with onions and garlic. It will give the marinade a more interesting taste. But here we must be careful. Those who don’t really like this greens may not like the smell of ready-made food.
However, that we are all about barbecue. Not so often, unfortunately, we manage to get out on a picnic today. But at home just have to cook every day. So let's talk further about other recipes that will be useful to housewives in ordinary conditions.
Pan marinade for meat
How often it happens that there’s simply no time to cook well! Of course, a good piece of meat can saturate any, even demanding and extremely spacious male stomach. True, cooked in haste, it is far from always able to please our taste buds. What to do in this case? Of course, use marinade for meat! After all, not only fresh pieces are suitable for frying in a pan. You can also marinate the meat. And do it in the evening. And after work, quickly make a delicious dinner out of it.
Take a glass of any (brand does not matter) beer, a few (four things will be enough) cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of such a wonderful seasoning as thyme, lemon, ground pepper (red). Mix it all, just remember to cut the citrus, and then put portioned meat into the marinade. Just remember: you need it to lie in this mixture for at least two hours. Well, the best thing, of course, is to leave overnight. Everything. The meat that was in such a marinade will be very tender, soft and unusually tasty. And no one will dare to reproach you that "today we have again an overdried sole for dinner."
“Instant” marinades
Did not have time to cook meat for tomorrow evening? No problem! There are instant ways to help make it soft and tasty. We look in the refrigerator. And if there is mayonnaise and tomato sauce, then we rejoice. Mix them, add chopped garlic + favorite seasoning. Half an hour of pickling, ten minutes of cooking - and on your table a great dinner.
And you can mix yogurt or sour cream with chopped onions and pickles. Also a great marinade for frying meat. Just do not forget to add, of course, seasoning. Anyone who likes it better.
Meat marinade with soy sauce
The latter is an excellent substitute for vinegar already pretty fed up with all. Soy sauce marinade gets along with all kinds of meat. And cooking it is very simple. To do this, take one hundred milliliters of the sauce itself, the juice of half a lemon, mix. Crush a clove of garlic, add to the previous ingredients. Combine this mixture with a quarter teaspoon of ground pepper. And add a pinch of basil.
Just remember: do not add salt to the marinade. After all, the sauce itself contains a lot of it, so be careful, try the composition during cooking. By the way, this marinade is quite “quick”. You can keep beef in it for no more than three hours. So be sure to take note of this method.
Small digression
And since we were talking about soy, I would like to say a few words about another product from it, which some call meat. Everyone, as they say, has their own taste and healthy diet - this, of course, is very good. However, such meat, albeit very healthy, is far from always pleasing with its smell, and even more so with its taste. And here we will come to the rescue marinade. For soy meat, there are not many options for cooking it, however, there is something in the culinary piggy bank anyway.
So, we will arm ourselves with coriander grains (half a teaspoon is enough), turmeric (a third of the same spoon), cardamom (take the same amount), a tablespoon of lemon juice, a mixture of peppers (here to taste), tomato paste (one hundred fifty grams, not more), three tablespoons of table oil (any vegetable). We mix all these ingredients, and then pour the soy meat previously soaked in boiling water for ten minutes with the resulting composition . We pickle the night (keep in the refrigerator). Well, then from such meat you can cook anything. Say goulash, or even bake it on coals. Knowledgeable people say that the result is excellent food. But here, of course, is precisely the moment when, as they say, there is no need to argue about tastes.
Smoked marinades
Which of us does not like to enjoy smoked delicacies? Unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to cook such goodies on their own. But if it is, then, of course, you will need to know what is the best marinade for smoking meat. There are also quite a lot of recipes for their preparation, but we will talk about a few - the best.
Ketchup Marinade
Take half a glass of tomato ketchup, white wine, olive oil and honey. Then add to it a teaspoon of garlic, pre-chopped, a mixture of peppers, dry mustard and salt. Pour meat with this composition. This recipe for smoked meat marinade is good because you can keep the last in it for no more than three hours.
On kefir
To make such a marinade for smoking meat, you need to take a glass of kefir, a teaspoon of sugar, fifty grams, not more, olive oil, a third of a glass of mint leaves (chopped), pieces five cloves of garlic (crush with a knife). Mix all this, salt and pepper as you like. Marinate for at least eight hours.
We have offered only two recipes from many available for owners of smokehouses today. All of them are very diverse, most of which are usually copyrighted. So you can well take as a basis the ones we have examined, and then come up with their own options based on them. The only thing that experts recommend considering. If you smoke meat for the future, be sure to add another ingredient to the marinade - food saltpeter. It is she who will allow the product to be stored as long as possible. As for its quantity, usually take it no more than three percent of the required volume of salt.
And finally, consider a few recipes for unusual marinades.
Fruit
Such a marinade is usually used when they want to cook beef steaks.
To make it, you first need to peel and then grate the kiwi on a coarse grater (two large copies will be enough). Then add to them a pinch of rosemary and a mixture of your favorite peppers. Salt and then pickle steaks in this mixture. The exposure time is at least an hour. Before cooking, do not forget to dry the steaks with a napkin. It is advisable to fry in a hot pan. And although the marinade is somewhat unusual, the taste of the final product is simply amazing!
“Drunk” marinades
The permanent ingredient in such formulations is either wine or cognac. There may also be a beer. We mentioned one such recipe above. And now we’ll talk about a few, but already on the wine.
Carrot (one piece is enough) and two large enough onions to cut. Crush the garlic (several cloves). All this is added to the meat previously laid in the dishes, pour a glass of wine (white dry), as well as half a glass of vegetable (any) oil. Salt, toss a few peas of black pepper and a couple of laurel leaves. Mix gently. Pickle for about eight hours. By the way, by the way. Without marinade, such meat can be stored for another two days. So take this “long-playing” recipe for sure.
Very often white wine is mixed with fruit juices. For example, an Austrian recipe suggests making a mix of a glass of wine and three glasses of pineapple juice. Ground black pepper is used as seasoning. And the Argentinean version suggests the presence of two glasses of grapefruit juice and half a glass of lemon juice and wine. In addition, it is recommended to add a teaspoon of curry.
An excellent marinade for almost any meat is a mixture of apple juice (as much as half a liter of a drink is already taken here), a glass of brandy, finely chopped one onion, marjoram and turmeric (you need to take a pinch of these ingredients).
Conclusion
Of course, to describe all the existing recipes is almost impossible. After all, as we have already mentioned, all marinades can be made independently, based on the recommendations of the culinary experts and their own taste preferences. But one thing is certain. Marinade is necessary for meat. After all, it is he who makes this product soft and gentle. Well, its components allow you to radically change the taste of many dishes that have long been familiar to us. So don’t be afraid. Do it! Come up with your own marinades, and let your home ones praise you for your imagination and extraordinary culinary skills.
Enjoy your meal!