TIP OF THE DAY: Marinating Meat
They taste better marinated, but learn |
With barbecue season in full swing, many people marinate meat before putting it on the grill. Review this checklist to see if you’re a master of marinating:
Take The Time • To marinate meat, refrigerate it in a self-sealing bag along with marinade, first thing in the morning. By dinnertime it will be ready to grill. • If you have the time, it’s best to marinate meats overnight. They can be marinated longer—up to 3 days—but the quality of the meat deteriorates. • As a time-saver, you can put meat or poultry into a bag with the marinade and freeze it—just be sure the marinade is cold when you add it. Then the food marinates while it is defrosting in the fridge. Be sure to cook defrosted food within 48 hours. Don’t Reuse Marinade • Never reuse marinade because of potential bacterial contamination from the raw protein (raw meat leaches the harmful bacteria in it into the marinade; those bacteria would spread to other meats if the marinade were re-used). |
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| • Generally, the ingredients of marinade are inexpensive enough so that you can prepare another batch. But if you must reuse it—for example, if you’ve run out of marinade and can’t make more—bring the marinade to a rolling boil for three minutes to kill any bacteria. Never reuse the same plastic bag.
• If you want to use the same batch of marinade on different types of meat (chicken, pork, beef), you can marinate them all together. • If you want to use some of your marinade in a gravy, set it apart before marinating the protein—or use the rolling boil method to kill any bacteria. Find reviews of our favorite meats, recipes, and more how-to’s in our Gourmet Meats Section.
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