Marinades You Should Know
by John Raven, Ph. B.
Just about anything you prepare on the grill or pit can benefit from
the use of a good marinade. Marinades do two things: (1) they season the food, and (2) they
tenderize the food.
Different meats have different qualities, therefore, you need a couple of different
marinades. A marinade suitable for a tough cut of beef, for instance, would not be
suitable for a trout filet.
Let us begin with beef, everyone's favorite.
BASIC BEEF MARINADE
- 2 cups Burgundy
- 1 Bay leaf
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon coriander
- 10 or 12 Peppercorns
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Meat should stay in marinade for 24 hours, in the
icebox, of course.
This marinade is suitable for steaks and the more tender cuts of beef. If you are doing a
brisket or a large chuck roast, you might try this heavy-duty version.
HEAVY-DUTY BEEF MARINADE
- 2 cups Water
- 1 cup Worchestershire sauce
- 1 cup Vinegar
- 2 Bay leaves
- 2 cloves Garlic, crushed
- 1 medium Onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon Thyme (dried)
- 2 stalks Celery, with leaves
- 6 Juniper berries, crushed
Combine all ingredients, bring to a boil and then simmer 10 to 15 minutes. Cool. Apply to
meat and refrigerate from 2 to 48 hours.
Tradition calls for marinating in a shallow, covered bowl, turning the meat to evenly
distribute the marinade. Better is to seal the meat and marinate in a large zip-lock plastic
bag. Then you can just squish it around from time to time.
Most marinades can be strained and used for your basting or mop sauce while cooking. If
the recipe does not call for cooking the marinade, you should bring it to a boil before using
it as a mop sauce. (Can't be too careful with them little germs.)
If you are using a very lean cut of beef, you should put a small amount of oil in your
marinade to keep the meat from getting too dry. Olive oil is good, if you can afford it, or
any vegetable oil, if you can't.
Chicken and other domestic fowl need a more subtle marinade -- more flavor than
tenderizing.
BASIC CHICKEN MARINADE
- ½ cup Dry white wine
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 3 tablespoons Olive oil
- 2 tablespooons Chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon Thyme (dried)
- ½ teaspoon Tarragon (dried)
- Salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients and marinate chicken at least one hour.
Fish and other seafood also benefit from a good marinade. I don't think you would want
to marinate shellfish in the shell.
BASIC FISH MARINADE
- 1 cup Dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons White vermouth
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Chervil
- 1 teaspoon Thyme (dried)
- ½ teaspoon Ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients and marinate fish at least one hour before grilling.
Now, none of these recipes was chiseled in stone and hauled down the mountain by Charlton
Heston. If you don't like some particular herb, leave it out or substitute one you do
like. I'm not a big fan of thyme, so I would omit the thyme from the fish marinade and
substitute rosemary.
There is not room to list all the possible combinations of marinades and meats. Use
your good judgment in working it out. Let's say you have a nice shoulder of venison to
barbecue. Use the heavy-duty beef marinade, since venison tends to be a little tougher
than beef.
Beef marinade is not just right for pork. Pork needs a little lighter treatment. Substitute
a white wine for the Burgundy in the basic beef marinade and try that. Also, pork is
very agreeable to mustard. Try adding some honey mustard to the recipe. If you like things
really spicy, add chili powder and/or cayenne to your marinade.
Chicken and other poultry go well with fruit flavoring. Pineapple chicken is on
everyone's list of favorite things. Add a cup of pineapple juice to your basic chicken
marinade. Or you could try orange juice or cranberry juice. If you are going to use juice,
use frozen concentrate, thawed. It's three times as strong as the fresh squoze stuff and just
as good. I haven't tried it, but I bet fish marinated in non-alcoholic Margarita mix would
be very good. If you try this, let me know what you think. Adding a little citrus zest to
any marinade is a plus.
For a while there, the favorite family marinade/baste for grilled chicken was Sprite. And a
ham basted with Coca-Cola has a unique flavor.
Milk can be used for a marinade. While it won't add any flavor, it will tender up the
meat. Works well on wild game and fish. I wouldn't use milk for a baste.
In a lot of places, beer is considered the universal marinade. If you buy more than you need
for the marinade, you can cool it and drink it right from the can.
Use your good common sense with your marinade. I've sampled brisket that was seasoned with
chocolate, and that is not a good combination. Nor is a vanilla flavor. A brisket that tastes
like a Twinky is a loser in my book. Experiment and enjoy.
HOT TIP FOR CAST-IRON LOVERS: A while back I told you that you could clean
crusty cast iron pots and pans with commercial oven cleaner. You can, but I've a way that is a
lot less labor intensive. You bury the pot or pan in the embers of your campfire and leave
it overnight.
I had an old cast-iron fry pan that had acquired about a quarter-inch crust over the years.
I worked on it a couple of hours with the oven cleaner and brush, and had cleaned a spot about
as big as a fifty-cent piece down to bare metal. We had a big campfire going for our New Year's
Eve party, and I stuck the pan in the embers and left it overnight. Next morning when it had
cooled, I brushed all the crust off with a piece of crumpled foil. Of course, the pan had to
be reseasoned, but it's just like new now.
Only thing is, it takes a pretty big fire to get enough coals to do the cleaning. If
you have a big fireplace, you might be able to do it there. The pan will smell real bad
while the crust is burning off. You don't want a fast change in temperature; it might prove
fatal to your pot or pan. Best would be to bury it in the embers and leave it there until
the ashes have cooled, then employ a wire brush to clean the pan.
I have been wondering if you could put some crusty cast iron in your self-cleaning oven
and run it through the clean cycle with good results? Someone try it, and let me know what
happens. Better your oven than mine.
Readers also clicked through to read these recipes in Grandma's Cookbook:
You can also read-up of John Raven's classic course on basic barbecue:
We have lots of information online about barbecue, grilling, briskets and other traditional
Texas foods. Read our continuously updated section
Traditional Texas Fare
for a complete listing of John Raven's articles.
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