I’m a student and I recently started cooking for myself (during the summer food services is pretty awful.) so I was wondering if anybody had any marinade tips. I’m not making anything complex, usually just some steaks, chicken breasts or some type of meat. I’ve been using a couple of store bought marinades but haven’t really found one I liked.
any body have a brand they like or know any easy recipes for home made marinades?
Vinegar, Olive oil, got to have garlic and then other spices from there to fit your fancy try new things cumin, cilantro, chili powder, curries etc
Phill
[quote]Naphta wrote:
I’m a student and I recently started cooking for myself (during the summer food services is pretty awful.) so I was wondering if anybody had any marinade tips. I’m not making anything complex, usually just some steaks, chicken breasts or some type of meat. I’ve been using a couple of store bought marinades but haven’t really found one I liked.
any body have a brand they like or know any easy recipes for home made marinades?[/quote]
Mix the following in a bowl:
1/4 cup Worchester sauce
1/4 cup Zesty Italian dressing
2 cloves garlic minced
Couple dashes of salt and pepper
Chop chicken breast and place in mix for 1 hour, then grill^^.
I like marinading fish in lime juice and cumin before grilling and making fish tacos out of them.
Consider the alternative to marinades: wet and dry rubs.
Jars of ground cumin, curry, Emeril’s seasoning, rosemary, salt and pepper live right in the cabinet. I rub/sprinkle some onto the surface of the meat, then spray it with olive oil, then throw the meat/fish/chicken in a hot pan.
Rubs allow the meat to get brown and caramelize. Marinade’s tend to prevent browning.
You can thank Chef Paul Prudhomme for popularizing the technique:
1/2 Cup soy sauce
3 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
A handful of chopped garlic
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
1/3 cup spicy brown mustard
Let whatever meat you’re cooking marinate in it for atleast 2 hours, and up to 4 hours. Also, spread it on your meat while it’s cooking (preferably grilling).
This stuff is bangin. For steaks I’d recommend using the mustard, but for chicken I’d say leave it out.
-dizzle
i like a dry rub myself and use lowry’s seasoned salt for pretty much every thing, unless i’m using tony cachere’s cajun seasoning.
some tonys with little globs of butter seared on to a steak can’t be beat.
i do add some stubb’s bar b cue sauce to grilled chicken some times. but i cook it with a dry rub and a minute or so before taking it off the grill i coat it with the sauce. it’s pretty good.
you don’t need much. some salt, some pepper, flavors you like.
using veggies is good too. put some onions, jalapenos, what have you on top of your meat. the flavor will seep in.
Fav. store bought
Great easy one is Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper and Minced Garlic…only used it with beef, so not sure how it would go with white meat or fish but its easy and adds some simple flavor…
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ketchup…put it on the meat while it’s cooking and let it stick to it. If you are doing ground beef you can tear it up into little balls and pour ketchup all over and it tastes like meat balls…than I usually put that in some brown rice and it’s rice covered meat balls. Tastes great, it’s cheap, and easy to make.
I use this simple one all the time. Mix some Grey Poupon mustard with some balsamic vinegar. I throw some boneless skinless breasts in a bag with this mix about an hour or so before I throw it on the grill and it comes out great.
It’s very mild but not boring so you can throw the chicken on anything.
[quote]DPHH wrote:
I use this simple one all the time. Mix some Grey Poupon mustard with some balsamic vinegar. I throw some boneless skinless breasts in a bag with this mix about an hour or so before I throw it on the grill and it comes out great.
It’s very mild but not boring so you can throw the chicken on anything.[/quote]
I do the same basic thing except I add olive oil to the mix. It turns it into a mustard vinagrette so I can make a huge batch and use it with fish, chicken or salads.
A marinade consists of some basic stuff. First, an oil. Second, an acid (vinegar or citrus juice works perfectly). Finally, you only need to add some seasonings.
I have found that 1/2 cup of oil and 1/4 cup of acid works perfectly for 8-10 chicken breasts. The seasonings depend on how salty, peppery or whatever you prefer. Play around with this and you can come up with your own favorites.