Everything you need to know about marinating: which marinades to use and safety tips
- Boost flavours, tenderise meats and make your meal special with these tips for the perfect marinade
- Different foods call for different marinade ingredients and durations of soaking, as well as storage requirements
Marinating is a terrific basic kitchen technique. Essentially, you can take any kind of meat, fish or seafood, or even vegetables or soy products, submerge them in a marinade, and you’ve turned a plain something into a great dinner.
Marinades add flavour – obviously depending on the ingredients and seasonings. You can make (or buy) anything from a Mediterranean herb- and citrus-centred marinade to a ginger- and soy-based Asian marinade to an Indian, spice-infused yogurt marinade.
Marinades also can make foods more tender. But how long do you marinate chicken? Pork chops? Vegetable kebabs? Tofu?
Here’s a primer on all things marinade.
Some general guidelines for marinating success
1. The thinner the food, and the less dense it is, the less time it needs in the marinade.