/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Did you know that you are wasting time and ingrediants by using marinades? It's a common myth that acidic marinades can penetrate the inside of meat and not only tenderize it, but flavor it also. This is only half true. Acidity can directly affect the texture of meat but it will not flavor it. Some may say
>but what about [popular marinade recipe]
Have you noticed that all of the popular food marinades (beef bulgogi, al pastor, carne asada) involve meat that is sliced extremely thin? This is because marinades can't penetrate meat and thus, marinading a whole pork shoulder would give you a slight flavor on the outside, and nothing on the inside. So yes, if you have a gallon bucket of sauce that you dip a slight pinch of beef into, it will flavor the meat soley on the ratio of sauce to meat. If you would like to cook meats that aren't the size of your pinky I would suggest using brines, it will not give any special flavor but it will season the meat while allowing the proteins to retain more moisture. Brining is very good, marinades are a waste.