Marinade Choices

What exactly is a marinade?  A marinade is a sauce that is meant to flavor and soften meat.  Marinades include various spices and herbs usually within a vinegar and oil base.  The sauce then can be used on your choice of pork, chicken, steak, fish, and other meats.  Some marinades work quickly and the meat can be cooked almost immediately, within 30 minutes.  Other marinades work better if the meat is left soaking overnight in the fridge prior to cooking.  Most people choose to grill when using a marinade.  Here at the Junkyard we love to grill but on days when we can’t for some reason I will oven cook, fry up or dare I say it, yes even use the crock pot to cook meat I have marinated!

What do you use to marinade your meat for dinner in? What do you use in a pinch when you just don’t have anything else in your cupboards?  I have a few regular standby’s that I really like.  I do like the immediacy of store bought marinades like this Lawry’s Baja Chipotle marinade but sometimes I just don’t have any in the cupboard!  Did you know that Italian Dressing makes one of the best marinades of all time?  I love to put chicken or pork into a ziplock with some Italian Dressing.  I add potato pieces, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, minced garlic and sometimes cut a bell pepper into the mix too! I then shake it up well, then leave it overnight in the refrigerator to marinade.  In the morning all one has to do is pour the mixture into the crockpot and by dinner time our entire dinner is cooked!  Other easy marinades include Russian Dressing and there is always Basalmic Vinegar (works great on chicken when marinated overnight).  Beer also works great in marinades and can give your meat a great flavor not found elsewhere!  Here is a wonderful recipe I found while surfing the web one day! (I have linked the title back to the blog I found this on)

Grilled Chicken Marinated in Beer
(serves 2-4)
Adapted from The Barbecue Bible

1 cup light beer (not like, coors light, think a pilsner, I used Corona)

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 small onion, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 thai red chilies, crushed
1 bay leaf, crushed
8 boneless skinless chicken thighs

Whisk together the beer, oil, mustard, paprika and pepper in a medium bowl. Add chiles, onion, garlic and bay and combine. In a marinating container combine chicken and marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator for anywhere from 6 to 48 hours. Grill as normal and you can use the marinade to baste the chicken while grilling for the first portion of cooking. (Obviously the marinade isn’t food safe, so discard and cook the chicken and sauce thoroughly.)

For more recipes and some delicious marinades check out these other sites:

An Awesome and Easy Soy Sauce Marinade

Quick and Easy Chicken and Steak Marinades

Fish Marinades

How to turn a “cheap” steak into a Great Steak, with marinade recipe!

Easy Marinades for Meat and Poultry

Marinated Flank Steak

If you have a great marinade recipe add it to the comments section!  I look forward to reading your marinade recipes!