Karen Adler - The Best Little Marinades Cookbook

Copyright 2000 by Karen Adler. All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Celestial Arts,
an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.tenspeed.com Celestial Arts and the Celestial Arts colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-131236
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with
the publisher. eISBN: 978-0-307-81485-2 Other cookbooks in this series:
Best Little Barbecue Cookbook
Best Little BBQ Sauces Cookbook
Best Little Grilling Cookbook v3.1 Special thanks to
Mary Ann Duckers, Judith Fertig, Dennis Hayes, Dane Herbel,
Karen Putman, Veronica Randall, Lou Jane Temple,
and my associates at Celestial Arts
for their contributions to this book. In times past it was common for foods to be cooked and served buried in spices, brined in salt, or preserved with vinegars.

All of these techniques enhanced the flavor and often added shelf life, tooan important feature in the days before refrigeration. Todays global cuisine has evolved to include a variety of cooking techniques and exotic ingredients. But our hectic lifestyles make it hard to cook with flavor and style and an eye toward healthful living. Marinades, rubs, and pastes are those delightful blends of oils, vinegars, spices, seasonings, and herbs that have come into their own as a part of this enlightened culinary revolution. Their combination of versatility, speed, and simplicity appeals to todays creative cook and has become synonymous with outdoor grilling. Imagine never tasting a fresh grilled salmon flavored with ginger, garlic, and sesame oil.

What would a barbecued rib dinner be without the zestiness of a peppery rub thats applied before cooking? And a leg of lamb just wouldnt be the same without a garlicky pesto paste. These exciting seasonings have recently been catapulted into the spotlight, so grab a whisk and lets get cooking!

Marinades, rubs, and pastes are flavorful combinations applied to meats and vegetables prior to cooking. They are used to season food for pan sauting, oven broiling, baking, grilling, and smoking. A liquid marinade is fundamentally a mixture of an acidlike vinegar or citrus combined with a cooking oil. Pungent aromatics are added for more complexity and include herbs, seasonings, onions, garlic, and condiments like soy sauce, mustard, and horseradish. A rub is traditionally a mixture of dry seasonings that can be kept for several months stored away from light in a tightly covered glass jar.

When fresh ingredients like herbs from the garden or grated cheeses are combined, they may still be used as a rub, but will not have the extended shelf life of the dry rub counterpart. The basic ingredients for a rub are salt, black pepper, and paprika. Other essential items include chili powder, celery seed, crushed red pepper or ground red pepper, cinnamon, and cumin. Any of the following herbs are enhancements to the rub mix: basil, dill, marjoram, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme. Pastes are in between a rub and a marinade. Add a small amount of liquid to a rub and it becomes a thick paste.

The fastest way to make a paste is to lightly coat the meat with oil, then sprinkle on the rub. Also fresh ingredients like herbs, citrus zest, garlic, and onions combined in a food processor with a little bit of oil make a paste. Pesto is an excellent example of a paste. Marinades, rubs, and pastes are a delicious flavoring agent that add a zesty tang of flavor to the food we cook. Marinades also help to keep foods from drying out. Tips for making marinades, rubs, and pastes. Tips for making marinades, rubs, and pastes.

Mix it up and rub it in. Its that easy. A coffee grinder or a mini food processor works nicely for blending and grinding ingredients for dry rubs. A non-reactive stainless steel or glass bowl and a whisk make easy work of assembling a marinade or paste. Or use a glass jar that has a tight-fitting lid to combine the ingredients. Dos and donts. Dos and donts.

Marinades usually have an acidic element, so use only nonreactive materials like glass, stainless steel, and plastic for mixing and marinating. One of the easiest ways to marinate is to use a large sealable plastic bag. Place the items to be marinated in first, then pour in the marinade, seal the bag, and put it in the refrigerator. Do not reuse marinades. Once a marinade has come into contact with meat, it is exposed to bacteria. Some recipes will advise boiling the exposed marinade for several minutes to use as a dipping sauce, but do not save the marinade after that.

Likewise, when applying a rub, it is best to sprinkle the rub onto your meat so the uncontaminated rub in the jar may be stored for later use. Find a few combinations of rubs that suit you best. Make them in quantities to last for 2 or 3 months. Add a dash of rub to your stews, soups, whatever youre cooking that needs a little boost. Store these mixtures in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. A word of warning: over-marinating can cause mushiness. A word of warning: over-marinating can cause mushiness.

Marinate tender cuts of meat like fish and chicken breasts for only 30 to 60 minutes. Beef steaks and pork chops may be marinated for 30 minutes to several hours. Tough cuts like brisket and roasts may be marinated overnight. Always marinate in the refrigerator.

Stocking the pantry is a wonderful way to save time. Many of the dry or packaged ingredients needed for marinades, rubs, and pastes have a shelf life of several months or longer.

Your preferences will dictate the items that youll keep on hand. As you experiment with more exotic flavors, your pantry staples will grow. Heres a list of essentials for a basic marinade pantry. Basic seasonings: assorted pepper and pepper blends such as lemon pepper or seasoned pepper; preferred salts are sea or kosher salt; flavored salts include garlic, onion, and celery; garlic and onion powders. Chilies to stock include chili powder, paprika, red pepper, and red pepper flakes. Dried herbs: basil, oregano, parsley, rosemary, tarragon, sage, thyme, mint, bay leaves, and chives. Dried herbs: basil, oregano, parsley, rosemary, tarragon, sage, thyme, mint, bay leaves, and chives.

Spices include dry mustard, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, and cumin. Basic vinegars and oils: distilled white vinegar, cider vinegar, vegetable, olive, and/or peanut oil. Get fancy with wine, rice, balsamic, and assorted herb vinegars, and upscale your oil selections with sesame, walnut, and garlic oil or make your own (). Condiments: mustards, soy sauce, Worcestershire, hot sauces, liquors, beers, liqueurs, fruit juices, store-bought marinades, and grill seasonings.