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 flavor — what kind obviously depends on the ingredients and seasonings. You can make (or buy!) anything from a Mediterranean herb- and citrus-centered 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.
General guidelines
Using marinade as sauce
Safety tips for reusing
Marinating times
Some guidelines (most recipes will give you specific instructions):
– Whole chicken: 4 to 12 hours
– Bone-in pieces: 2 to 6 hours
– Boneless pieces: 30 minutes to 2 hours
– Bigger roasts, such as a chuck roast, leg of lamb, pork shoulder: 2 to 8 hours
– Tougher or larger steaks, like strip, T-bone, rib-eye or London broil: 1 to 2 hours
– More tender cuts of meat, like sirloin, skirt or flank steak, lamb or pork chops: 30 minutes to 1 hour
– Filets, scallops, shrimp: 15 to 20 minutes
– Whole fish, thick fish steaks: 30 minutes
– Tofu: 30 minutes to 1 hour
– Seitan and tempeh: 1 to 6 hours
– Dense vegetables, such as carrots, squash, potatoes: 1 to 3 hours
– Softer vegetables, such as broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes: 30 minutes to 1 hour
For more, try these marinade recipes on my blog, themom100.com: The Best Basic Marinade of the Summer-Dijon, Garlic and Lemon Marinade; Ginger, Lime and Mint Marinade; Indian Curry Yogurt Marinade; Spicy Sesame Asian Marinade; and Jamaican Jerk Style Marinade.
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