When preparing meat dishes, we often use seasonings like soy sauce, salt, sugar, and wine to marinate the meat, allowing it to absorb the flavors of the sauce.

However, marinating meat for too long isn’t always better. Excessive marinating can cause the surface of the meat to become soft and mushy, potentially losing its texture.

Does the marinating method ensure that the sauce fully penetrates the meat? What effects do different marinade ingredients have on the texture of the meat?

What are the benefits of marinating meat?

The word “marinate” literally means “soaking in salty seawater.”

There’s a common misconception about marinades. In the past, marinades were simply brine used to preserve meat, but now people believe that soaking meat in a strong “marinade” allows the sauce to penetrate the meat. This is a myth.

However, this doesn’t mean marinating meat is useless. If the marinade is made with the right ingredients, it will coat the meat in a fragrant, flavorful sauce while leaving it tender.

How long should meat be marinated?

Marinating should last no longer than 24 hours, and preferably no longer.

If you marinate meat too long, the salt in the marinade will begin to seep into the surface, causing the meat’s exterior to become mushy when cooked. Just 30 minutes of marinating before cooking is enough to enhance the flavor.

Tender and Delicious

The various ingredients in the marinade work synergistically to enhance the meat’s flavor and soften its exterior. During cooking, the sugars and proteins in the marinade enhance the meat’s browning reaction, resulting in a fragrant, crispy crust.

Perfect Searing: Alkaline ingredients like egg whites and baking soda promote the browning reaction.

Debunking Myths

Myth:

Marinade allows the sauce to penetrate the meat.

Fact:

In reality, marinades can’t penetrate meat. Meat is made up of 75% water, and the muscle tissue cells are tightly packed together, like a soaked sponge. Most flavor molecules are too large to squeeze in between them.

Most flavor molecules come from fat molecules, which can’t squeeze into the spaces between muscle cells. This means that fat and flavor molecules can only penetrate a few millimeters at most, confining them to the surface of the meat.

Ingredients for a Marinade

The variety of flavor combinations in marinades is endless, but a few key ingredients are essential to ensure a successful marinade.

A marinade should contain the following key ingredients: salt, fat, an acidic ingredient (optional; it slows down the browning process), and seasonings such as sugar, herbs, and spices.

Basic marinade ingredients

• Salt: This is the most important marinade ingredient because, in addition to enhancing the overall flavor, it also breaks down the protein structure on the meat’s surface, allowing a small amount of moisture to penetrate and tenderize the meat.
• Fats: A fat, such as olive oil, can be used as a marinade base. Fats carry and distribute other flavor molecules and also lubricate the meat during cooking. Yogurt is traditionally added to marinades in Indian cuisine.
• The sugars and proteins in milk interact with the sugars and proteins in the meat during cooking, producing a unique aroma.
• Acidic ingredients (optional)
• Lemon juice: It stimulates bitter taste buds and adds a strong flavor to the marinade. It also helps tenderize the meat’s outer layer.
• Vinegar: It helps tenderize the meat, and its acidity balances the flavor of the meat with the fat in the marinade.

Wine

• Wine: It adds acidity to the marinade, and the alcohol promotes the diffusion of other flavor molecules in the marinade.
• Wine also tenderizes the meat’s outer layer.

Seasoning

• Sugar: Reduces the tongue’s sensitivity to bitterness. It also adds flavor, as it promotes browning and caramelization. Honey or fructose are better choices than white sugar.
• Herbs and spices: They add depth and complexity to the flavor and can determine whether the marinade is sweet, spicy, rich, or light. Their flavor molecules are extracted from the oils and fats in the marinade.