Need a quick marinade for grilling?
 

Here's a recipe I came across and wanted to share it with you all. I made a batch up this weekend and it was quick to make and packed full of flavor. It can be used on just about any type of meat I figure.


1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea), or to taste
4 strips of lemon zest
3 cloves garlic, crushed with the side of a cleaver or minced
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil, cilantro, dill, oregano or a mix of all four
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine the lemon juice, hot pepper flakes, cracked pepper, and salt in a nonreactive bowl and whisk until the salt crystals are dissolved.

Add the lemon zest, garlic, parsley, and basil. Stir or whisk in the olive oil. The virtue of this marinade is its freshness; use it within 1 to 2 hours of making. Stir again before using.
Makes 1 cup.

Chipotle hot sauce and a splash of beer work great if you are truely in a hurry

I haven't done this in a while but it's good and really simple

soy sauce
choice of lemon/lime/orange/pineapple juice
sugar
garlic
ginger


I've found that over half of the things I cook these days have soy sauce as the main flavoring. You have to buy real soy sauce. A lot of it is made from partially hydrogenated soybeans and lots of crap. The good stuff is simply soybeans, salt and water.

I use a version of the first recipe to marinade steaks,
only when it's time to baste them on the grill I add a copule of shots of Jack Daniels to the marinade.

thanks for the marinade im gonna try that on a cut of steak im grilling tonight.

i had nothing in the kitchen to marinade my steak one day, and i invented thsi awesome marinade recipe!

cranberry juice
(trust me, its good)

fresh ground pepper

coarse salt

basil, oregeno, thyme, other herbs too taste

fresh parsley

dont ask me why, but its amazing.. mmm i thought i ruined my steak when i first made it, but it was amazing! i might go make one right now...

Italian dressing is a good marinade if you're really in a hurry.

One of my favorite marinades is 50/50 italian dressing and Worchestershire sauce, plus a little olive oil and whatever other herbs sound good and are sitting around. It's great on everything, but especially tasty on pork chops.

I think... that you should come prepare this for me right now. Meat and all.

Irseg's stuff is close to what I usually use. I do a 50/50 Italian dressing and whatever soy sauce-based marinade I find at my grocery. Then add what seems like a sickening amount of fresh, black pepper and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours/beers/whatever. I make up some of the same to sautee some onions and mushrooms too. They're great on both the steaks and some baked potatoes too.

in addition to flavors from spices or herbs, the key components to any marinade are acid, salt, oil and sugar.

salt breaks down the meat, acid is the transfer agent, the oil is the medium. sugar tempers the acid and also helps with the tenderizing.

you have acid and sugar if you use citrus or other fruit juice. any fermented product like alcohol will have all the chemicals you need too. so do dairy products with active cultures like yogurt or buttermilk.

That sounds delicious, 00111000. I grill practically everything I eat. I even bake potatoes, roast corn, and steam vegetables on the grill. I'm always hitting my friends up for new ideas for a marinade.

One question: I've never heard of lemon zest. Which aisle should I look for it on at the mercado?

I know when I have a recipe that calls for lemon zest I just use lemon peel.

Two of my favorite marinades

Jack Daniels and Coke (30/70)
and
A mixture of Dales, Worcetshire (sp?) and Galic Salt

Anytime I make those I put the meat in a 9 x 13 glass pan and keep it in the fridge for a few hours before I cook it

Lemon zest is the outside of a lemon. You can buy a zester in most stores that sell cooking stuff. You can also use a peeler to the same extent. Just gently remove some of the peel and use that.

In other words, lemon zest is another name for lemon peel. Gotcha. :)

Belay my last. Someone has explained to me which part of the peel the "zest" is. :)

For a quick dry rub for chicken & pork,
I mix 1 packet of taco seasoning with 1/2 bag of Zatarains crab & seafood boil.

coat the meat with mustard then rub on the dry mixture

Pickle juice works great, 7-up, or just a good beer.

Sunny Delight and worcestershire sauce is good for chicken.

It's the same thing.

Quote:

Jack Daniels and Coke (30/70)

Awesome. You really can just about use anything you can come up with in the kitcken. I've used Mouintain Dew, brown sugar and butter to make sweet carrots before.

I just tried a new one one some top sirloins yesterday.

Oregano, Basil, Pepper, Olive Oil, & Balsamic Vinegar.
They marinated for about five hours & then I threw them on the grill.
The Balsamic added an interesting flavor, & it was the most tender sirloin I've ever done.

Tecoyahs' Peanut butter Chicken

Mix 50/50 Chunky Peanut Butter and BBQ sauce

Add teriyaki until thin enough to soak chicken (thighs or breasts are best)

oragano and garlic powder to taste

marinade for two hours

grill and coat on each flip

One great thing that adds tons of flavor to chicken and tenderizes it is yougurt. At the begining of the day, put raw chicken and unflavored yougurt into a dish and let it sit all day. Just grill it until it's done. For a side dish type of thing, use yougurt, cucumbers, cilantro and a bit of dill and blend together. Cut chicken into strips and place in a pita pocket with yougurt/cucumber mix. Great during the summer and super quick. Oh, a bit of paprika to the yougurt with the chicken is great.

I make this with lime all the time. Sometimes use honey instead of sugar (brown). A little Asian chile sauce for some kick. While the food is grilling I strain the marinade, add some chicken stock and boil it down a bit on the stove - makes a good quick sauce.



We go through so much soy sauce that we buy it in the gallon cans from Costco.