Marinades

I received a question about marinating chicken from my contact icon and decided that since it pertains to BBQing as well I will answer that question here:

In general there a many marinades. The French and Italians probably started the ball rolling by soaking everything in wine and then adding more while cooking the items. Adding herbs and various spices soon followed and it was realized that not only did the meats and vegetables taste better it also tenderized the meats. I like that theory but my money is on the Chinese being the inventors of marinating due to the fact that rice vinegar is probably older than the whole of Europe is.

All marinades have one thing in common and that is the acid found in most food items that grow in the ground. Tomatoes and vinegar are the two most prevalent bases in all but a few marinades. Both are acidic. And it is the acid that breaks down the fibers in meat and vegetables. Add salt and you have a preservative.

Here is my favorite for Chicken:

In a very clean, empty quart jar (glass or ceramic; I re-use mayo bottles) pour in about a half jar of cooking sherry or other white wine of your choice and any will do just fine.

Add about another inch of vegetable oil (it will float on the wine and is easily seen so that you can see the inch or so; it is only used to help the wine and other spices to adhere to the chicken and not slide off during the soak.)

Mince up a clove or two of garlic, one-half onion and toss that in along with a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. If you like Chicken l'Orange, add the juice of a squeezed orange to the mix then cover and give it a good shake then into the frig for about an hour.

Put a couple of boneless chicken breasts in a small glass container (glass so that the acids don't leech anything from the container) cover with the marinade and place back into the frig for at least 10 hours.

I would do the prep late at night, usually while watching the evening news and then put the now-marinated chicken in the frig for the night; first thing in the morning I would turn the chicken and back into the frig until I got home from work and then transfer the breasts onto the prepared BBQ grill.

Baste occasionly with fresh marinate and discard the already used stuff.

Hope this answers the question.

Dad