The key is to not leave the meat in the marinade for too long, as acids can weaken the protein structure of the meat too much, making it too soft and mushy.
Aim for 30 minutes to two hours, but check periodically to see if the meat is starting to look cooked around the edges. Several fruits, such as papaya , pineapple, kiwi and Asian pear, contain enzymes that help tenderize meat.
Bromelain, the powerful enzyme found in this fruit, can work a little too well. Heavily salting a tough cut of meat and letting it sit an hour or two before you cook it is an effective way to break down tough muscle fibers, no fussy marinade needed. There are a couple of clever knife tricks that can make meat seem more tender.
One is scoring. This method can help break up tough proteins and also helps the meat absorb tenderizing marinades more easily. Although these can sound somewhat off-putting, both naturally occur in many foods that we regularly consume.
Acids: These include vinegar, citrus juices, and alcohol. Enzymes: These are found in roots and fruits such as gingerroot and papaya.
Papain the active tenderizing agent in papaya and pineapple is a common ingredient in marinades. Enzymes break down tissue by digesting its proteins. Too long in an acidic marinade, and the acids will reverse course, actually tighten the proteins, and squeeze out moisture, toughening the meat. Seafood is particularly vulnerable to this. A noted chef, Michel Roux, was to judge on television which side was better. After cooking, the half treated with pineapple was total mush and looked like a pile of stuffing.
Not surprisingly, Chef Roux preferred the untreated half. He did try to find something nice to say about the mushy half. Kurti used the comment as the title for his book on his experiments with tenderizing enzymes. Dairy products are, in my opinion, the only marinades that truly tenderize. Hunters have long known to marinate tough game in milk, Indian recipes use yogurt marinades for lamb and tough goat meat, and some southern cooks soak chicken in buttermilk before frying.
In deciding how long to marinate, consider the texture of the meat or fish. In general, open-textured flesh like fish fillets needs only a few minutes of soaking. Already a subscriber? Log in. Get the print magazine, 25 years of back issues online, over 7, recipes, and more.
Start your FREE trial. Fine Cooking. Sign Up Login. Photo: Scott Phillips. Save to Recipe Box. Add Private Note. They are already naturally flavorful and juicy and don't need much more than salt and pepper. With expensive steaks like that, you want to taste the beef itself, not the marinade. Don't overcook your steaks. Overcooked steaks are tough and dry, no matter how tender they were to start out, or what type of marinade you used.
Liquids like wine and fruit juices are good for marinating, not because, but rather, in spite of the fact that they're acidic. Fruit juices contain sugars that caramelize when they hit the grill and wine contains all kinds of interesting flavor compounds, which become deeper and more complex when exposed to high heat.
The key with wine, however, is to cook off the alcohol before using it to marinate. That's because alcohol will also cause the proteins in the meat to coagulate. Even a simple marinade of olive oil chopped garlic and fresh herbs will add flavor to a steak or roast. The truth about marinades is that they really don't penetrate much beyond the surface of the meat, a few millimeters at the most. The marinade isn't soaking into the meat. It's merely coating the surface with the flavorful ingredients.
This is why marinating beef in an acidic liquid doesn't turn it into ceviche.
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