For meat, marinade: the best recipes

If you ask anyone, even the most experienced chef, what is his favorite marinade for meat, then it is unlikely that he will be able to get a clear answer from him. After all, for many centuries of its existence, mankind has accumulated simply an incredible number of recipes for their preparation. Yes, yes, we did not make a reservation. Precisely for centuries. Because the pioneers in this case were still ancient Egyptians. To preserve the freshness of meat, they dissolved sea salt in water, and then soaked it in this brine. Later, in Southern Europe, salt was replaced with vinegar. And this marinade for meat was so popular with the chefs that even today, despite the abundance of recipes, it finds its application. Over time, people thought of adding and all kinds of seasonings - herbs, spices, - which gave the pickled meat a special taste.

The main components of marinades

Any existing marinade for meat is simply required to have three basic ingredients in its composition. It is a fragrance, some acid and fat.

The acidic medium helps the meat fibers soften, resulting in a more delicate dish. Fat (as a rule, this oil) as it envelops the meat, resulting in the preparation of the juice remains inside. Well, with flavors and without explanations everything is clear. They give the flavor and flavor to the dish.

And now a few words about each component. As an acid, as a rule, all kinds of vinegars available to modern cooks are used. Also great for these purposes is kefir, yoghurt, juices of acidic fruits (lime, lemon, pomegranate). Not bad proved yourself and mayonnaise, which, in fact, contains all three basic ingredients (if it is with aromatic additives).

As for fats, everything depends on the "nationality" of the kitchen. So, in the Mediterranean olive is preferred, and in the East sesame is often used.

Perhaps, the mentioned nationality also affects the type of aromatic additive. For example, in Chinese cuisine, almost every second marinade for meat contains garlic, green onions and ginger. The French like to add vegetables (carrots + onions + celery). Mexicans adore burning marinades, therefore almost in each of them there is a hot pepper.

In general, by and large, marinade for meat - a fertile soil for the activities of a cook. Here you can experiment and almost every day to create your own masterpieces, while not forgetting, however, the basic rules of marinating. What, in fact, will be discussed later.

Basic bases of marinating

As a rule, almost every marinade used for meat does not require preparation. But there are exceptions. For example, the French are preparing marinade from boiled red wine, adding to it juniper. But Mexicans sometimes bake before adding their favorite peppers to sauce, to give the marinade a richer, somewhat smoked taste.

As for the dishes: you need to take containers that do not react to the effect of acid. For this reason, metal or aluminum utensils will not work. Take containers of porcelain, clay or glass. It is not necessary that the marinade covers the meat completely. Pieces can from time to time simply turn over or interfere.

About time of preparation. Follow the recipe requirements. The principle of "let it stay a little longer" does not fit here. Meat, too long lying in marinade, can simply become tasteless, sour.

And the last. Before the actual process of cooking, make sure that the marinade is stacked with pieces. Because they are wet, for example on the grill, will be more likely to be stewed than fried.

And remember: you can not use the marinade again. There are too many bacteria in it. Even if you want to water them during the frying, say, a shish kebab, do not be lazy, put the composition in a saucepan on a stove and quickly bring it (but do not boil it!) To a boil. Believe me, you will be healthier.

Well, on this, I think, enough theory. Let's move on to practice. So, recipes of marinades for meat. Begin!

The easiest way

Naturally, this will be a marinade for meat with vinegar. By and large, almost everyone who cooked shish kebab, previously kept it in this composition. What, in fact, gives such a marinade? Soft meat. No more. But sometimes this is enough.

For cooking, we need grams of three hundred onions, a cup (volume of 250 milliliters) of ordinary vinegar (nine per cent), peas of black pepper and, of course, salt. It will not be superfluous and a sachet of seasoning - special, for a shish kebab.

How to cook

Pork (preferably) cut arbitrarily, into pieces of the right size, lay the meat in a container. Chopped onions, mix it with seasoning, salt and, of course, vinegar, add it all to the meat. Then add water (cold, but boiled) so that the marinade completely covers our future shish kebab. Fall asleep there peas of pepper, you can add a couple of leaves of the laurel. All. We put on all night in the fridge. And in the morning you can go on a picnic and fry a shish kebab.

We complicate the composition

As we already mentioned, cooking marinade for meat is a creative process, and therefore nothing prevents us from improving the first recipe. Why do we take the same ray (it will be enough for three large things), four cloves of garlic, three teaspoons (do not go too far!) Of sweet paprika, a pinch of spicy pepper, a large lemon and a couple of tablespoons of banal sunflower oil. Not too much will be a bunch of parsley.

We cut the luchok with rings and mix it with melenko chopped garlic. Add the peppers, pour in the oil, salt, squeeze out the juice from our large lemon. Leave the moment at thirty. During this time, you can just prepare the meat - wash and cut into the right size pieces. And after the specified time we add meat to the marinade cooked by us, after which we forget about it until the morning. As for parsley, it can also be cut along with onions and garlic. It will give the marinade a more interesting taste. But here it is necessary to be more attentive. To someone who does not really like this greens, the smell of ready-made food may not like it.

However, that this is all about shish kebab. Not so often, unfortunately, today we manage to get out on a picnic. But at home just have to cook every day. So let's talk further about other recipes that will be useful for housewives in everyday conditions.

Marinade for meat for frying in a frying pan

How often it happens that there is no time to cook well! Of course, a good piece of meat can saturate any, even demanding and extremely capacious men's stomach. True, cooked in a hurry, it is not always able to please our taste buds. What to do in this case? Of course, use a marinade for meat! For frying in a frying pan, not only fresh chunks are suitable. Meat can and marinate. And do it in the evening. And after work quickly cook from it a delicious dinner.

Take a glass of any (brand does not matter) beer, a few (four pieces will be enough) cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of such a wonderful spice, like thyme, lemon, ground pepper (red). All this mix, just do not forget to cut the citrus, and then put in marinade portions of meat. Just remember: you need it to lie down in this mixture for at least two hours. Well, of course, it's best to leave it for the night. All. The meat that has been in this marinade will be very tender, soft and unusually tasty. And no one dares to reproach you that "today we have superseded soles for dinner".

"Instant" marinades

Did you have time to cook meat for tomorrow evening? No problem! There are instant ways to help make it soft and tasty. We look in the refrigerator. And if there is a mayonnaise and a tomato sauce, then we rejoice. Mix them, add chopped garlic + favorite seasoning. Half an hour of marinating, ten minutes of cooking - and on your table a great dinner.

And you can mix yogurt or sour cream with chopped small onions and pickled cucumbers. Also an excellent marinade for frying meat. Just do not forget to add, of course, seasoning. Any, which is more like.

Marinade for meat with soy sauce

The latter - an excellent replacement is already pretty podnadoevshemu all vinegar. Marinade with soy sauce gets along with all kinds of meat. And to cook it is very simple. To do this, take a milliliter of one hundred sauce, juice of half a lemon, mix. Crush the clove of garlic, add to the previous ingredients. Smooth this mixture with a quarter teaspoon of ground pepper. And add a pinch of basil.

Just remember: do not add salt to the marinade. After all, the sauce itself contains a lot of it, so be careful, try the formula during cooking. By the way, this marinade is quite "fast". Beef in it can be kept no more than three hours. So be sure to take this method to your note.

A small digression

And since I'm talking about soy, I would like to say a few words about another product from it, which some call meat. Everyone, as they say, has his own taste, and a healthy diet is, of course, very good. However, such meat, albeit very useful, does not always please its smell, let alone taste. And here to us on a gain there will be a marinade. For soy meat, there are not so many options for cooking it, nevertheless there is something in the culinary piggy bank in any case.

So, we'll arm ourselves with coriander grains (half teaspoon enough), turmeric (one third of the same spoon), cardamom (we take the same amount), a tablespoon of lemon juice, a mixture of peppers (here - to taste), tomato paste (grams one hundred and fifty, not More), with three tablespoons of table oil (any vegetable). All these ingredients are mixed, and then poured the resulting composition of the soy meat pre-soaked in boiling water for ten minutes . Marinuem night (keep in the fridge). Well, then from such meat you can cook anything. Say, goulash, or even bake on charcoal. Knowledgeable people say that it turns out the most excellent dish. But here, of course, is the moment when it is not necessary to argue about tastes, as they say.

Marinades for smoked products

Who among us does not like to eat smoked delicacies? Unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to cook such goodies on their own. But if it is available, then, of course, it will be necessary to know what is best for marinade for smoking meat. There are a lot of recipes for their preparation, but we will tell you about a few - the very best.

Marinade with ketchup

Take a half cup of tomato ketchup, white wine, olive oil and honey. Then add to it a teaspoon of garlic, pre-chopped, a mixture of peppers, dry mustard and salt. This composition is filled with meat. This recipe marinade for smoking meat is good in that it can last no more than three hours.

On yogurt

To make a marinade for smoking meat, you need to take a glass of kefir, a teaspoon of sugar, fifty grams, no more than olive oil, a third of a glass of mint leaves (chopped), five pieces of garlic (crush with a knife). All this mix, salt-pepper as you like. Marinade for at least eight hours.

We offered only two recipes from the many available to the owners of smokehouses today. All of them are very diverse, and in the majority, as a rule, author's. So you can completely take as a basis the ones we considered, and then come up with your own options based on them. The only thing that experts recommend to take into account. If you smoke the meat for the future, be sure to add one more ingredient in the marinade - food nitrate. It will allow the product to be stored as long as possible. As for its quantity, it usually takes no more than three percent of the required volume of salt.

And finally, consider several recipes for unusual marinades.

Fruit

Such a pickle is usually used when they want to cook steaks from beef.

To make it, you must first clean it, and then grate it on a large kiwi grater (two large specimens will be enough). Then add them to a pinch of rosemary and a mixture of favorite peppers. Solim, and then pickle in this mixture of steaks. Holding time - not less than an hour. Before cooking, do not forget to dry the steaks with a napkin. To fry it is desirable on a heated frying pan. And although the marinade is somewhat unusual, the taste of the final product is simply stunning!

"Drunken" marinades

A permanent ingredient in such formulations is either wine or cognac. Maybe even beer. We mentioned one such recipe above. Now let's talk about a few more, but already at fault.

Carrots (one piece is enough) and two large enough bulbs to cut. Garlic (several lobules) crush. All this add to the pre-cooked meat, pour a glass of wine (white dry), as well as half a glass of vegetable (any) oil. Salt, throw a few peas of black pepper and a couple of leaves of laurel. Carefully mix. Marinate about eight hours. By the way, by the way. Without marinade, such meat can be stored for as long as two whole days. So take this "long-playing" recipe without fail.

Very often white wine is mixed with fruit juices. So, for example, the Austrian recipe suggests making a mix of a glass of wine and three glasses of pineapple juice. As a seasoning, use ground black pepper. And the Argentine version assumes the presence of two cups of grapefruit juice and half a glass of lemon juice and wine. In addition, it is recommended to add a teaspoon of curry.

An excellent marinade for almost any meat is a mixture of apple juice (a half-liter drink is already taken here), a glass of brandy, finely chopped onions, marjoram and turmeric (these ingredients need to be taken by pinch).

Conclusion

Of course, it is almost impossible to describe all the existing recipes. After all, as we have already mentioned, all marinades can be done on their own, relying on the recommendations of culinary specialists and their own taste preferences. But you can definitely say one thing. For meat, marinade is needed. After all, it is he who makes this product soft and gentle. Well, its components allow you to radically change the taste of many, which have long been habitual for us dishes. So do not be afraid. Do it! Come up with your own marinades, and your home let you praise for imagination and extraordinary culinary skills.

Bon Appetit!