Most people think of marinades as a way to make meat taste better—to infuse a steak or piece of chicken with flavor of spices, herbs, and other ingredients in the marinade. And while that’s true, there’s a lot more going on when you marinate meat.
Most marinades also protect the meat and animal fat in the meat from degeneration and oxidation during cooking. In fact, marinades have been shown to reduce the formation of carcinogens when grilling or barbecuing meat, improve protection against pathogenic bacteria, and maintain the stability of the fatty acids in meat.
In one study, rats and people who ate marinated meat had fewer peroxidation products in their feces and fewer precancerous lesions in their colons than those who ate non-marinated meat. Other than the marinade, both meat meals were cooked the same way.
Most popular marinades are composed of three essential, basic ingredients: a fat (usually an oil), an acid (vinegar, wine, or citrus), and flavorings (spices, herbs, garlic). There are other ways to marinate meat, though, including using dairy or the fruits and spices that have unique tenderizing enzymes, including ginger, kiwi, papaya, or pineapple. Each “school” of marinades has its pros and cons.
Proponents of the acidic method claim it breaks down the tough bonds holding proteins together. This is called denaturing, and denatured proteins form a loose mesh with their neighbors rather than tight coils. Initially, the loose mesh traps water and the result is a juicy, moist piece of meat, but too much acidic marinating can actually have the opposite effect. To avoid this de-tenderizing, go a little lighter on the lime, the lemon, or the vinegar than you might be inclined. If it’s the flavor you’re after, you can always add the extra acid right before or after cooking. Otherwise, you might “cook” the meat (think ceviche, where the lime juice “cooks” the seafood) prematurely.
Enzymatic marinades work by breaking down the connective tissue in meat. You can buy commercial meat tenderizers, but most of them are derived from papaya or pineapple, so I’d recommend just using the fresh ingredients themselves. As with the acidic marinades, you don’t want to use enzymatic marinades for too long. The meat won’t get tougher, but it may get excessively mushy (as opposed to just tender).
Dairy is the mildest marinade, and, given enough time to work, the most tenderizing. You’ll generally want to use Greek yogurt or buttermilk (something slightly acidic) – think Indian tandoori or Southern fried chicken. We’re not sure if it’s the mild acidity of the dairy that tenderizes the meat, or if it’s the calcium activating tenderizing enzymes in the meat itself (both theories have been floated around online), but we do know that it works.
In general, red meat and pork can handle stronger, longer marinades. Next is poultry, and finally fish, which only needs 30 minutes to a couple hours at most in the marinade.
The best marinades are often the simplest, made with fresh, quality ingredients that just taste really good together. In a pinch, you can throw together a few items – say, olive oil, lemon, garlic, and salt – that mesh well in your mouth and be confident they’ll work as a marinade, too. Or, you can get complex and creative with a wide range of ingredients. The beauty of the marinade is that just about everything you throw into one works as long as you stick to the basic principles.
