Tips on Creating Your Own Marinade

Summer is the season for the fine art of barbecue. The best grill master knows that preparing your meats before a big cookout is the key to satisfied dinner guests. Whether you are firing up the grill to cook meat, poultry or fish/seafood, it’s important to carefully consider the marinade you prepare ahead of time. A good marinade will both tenderize the meat and give it a great flavor. So while you are considering the cut of meat and the type of fire (charcoal? gas?), you should also carefully consider the ingredients in your marinade.

However, it’s important to remember that meat may not need a marinade at all. If you’ve decided to spend money on the finest cut of beef with perfect marbling, then you don’t need to infuse it with other flavors. Just a little salt and pepper will provide all the seasoning that is needed. However, tougher cuts of steak like flank, sirloin or skirt will benefit from soaking in a marinade before cooking.

The first ingredient in your marinade should be something acidic – vinegar, wine, or something citrusy like lemon juice will help to tenderize the meat. A tough piece of meat will benefit from a marinating for about 24 hours, however a delicate piece of fish might need no more than an hour. Adding oil will give the meat moisture, as well as flavor, especially if it’s particularly strong-tasting, like olive oil.

The other key component is salt, which can be used for seasoning but can also be used to draw water out of the meat. Finally, it’s time to add your herbs and spices, such as garlic, oregano, thyme, cumin and red pepper. Other options to consider including in your arsenal are hot sauces, sweet steak sauces or soy sauce. Sweet ingredients can give your marinade a caramelized texture when the meat is cooked.

When you are designing your own marinade, you will only perfect it by trial and error. So it’s worth checking out some recipes online to get ideas and see what marinade ingredients tend to go together well. For example, a typical Middle Eastern preparation might include ingredients such as yogurt, olive oil, garlic and onion, whereas an Asian-style chicken or beef marinade may typically include ingredients such as rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, chili sauce and scallions.

Whether it is meat, poultry or fish, you must refrigerate the dish while it is marinating, even if it is only for a short time. Bacteria can start to grow when food is left on the countertop. Samsung’s Chef Collection is equipped with the Chef Pantry, a section of the fridge that is designed for keeping meat and fish chilled at optimal temperatures. So once you’ve prepared your marinade, take the stainless steel Chef Pan out of the fridge, apply the marinade to meat, poultry or fish, be sure to cover it and pop it back into your Chef Collection refrigerator’s Chef Pantry.

It’s important to note that you should not marinade a dish in any metal container unless it is stainless steel. After you have started cooking, the marinade should be discarded. Don’t baste the food with the leftover marinade as this can lead to cross contamination.

Once the meat is on the grill you can slide the Chef Pan directly into your dishwasher. That’s one of the great things about the Chef Collection refrigerator: it was designed to make things easy for home chefs who are serious about preparing great meals that taste great.