Mason-Dixon Recipes

Marinades/Salad Dressings

I love how the men stand around cooking the barbie while the women have done all the work beforehand doing the marinade and making the salads and then everybody says, "What a great barbie" to the guy cooking.

         — Curtis Stone

Originally, marinades were simply made from salt water. This imparted flavor, but its main function was just to help preserve the meat. Sometimes actual sea-water was used, which is where the word "marinade" came from. It was called aqua marina, from the Latin mare for sea; hence marinade.

Today, marinades are seasoned liquids in order to enhance primarily the flavor of meat before cooking it. The mechanics of how that happens and benefits are disputed, but in general, the flavor of the meat is changed, not the tenderness. You can’t turn a hunk of shoe leather into filet mignon, but you can make it taste better.

A marinade usually consists of a cooking oil, an acid (vinegar, lemon juice, wine), and spices. It's the acid that causes tissue to break down—tenderizing it—but it's the oil and spices that impart flavors to the meat. Beyond tenderizing, though, breaking down meat tissue causes it to hold more liquid, making it juicier. A good thing to remember is that too much vinegar or hot sauce called for in some marinade recipes can have the opposite effect, causing the meat to be stringy and tough.

Marinades are, not surprisingly, highly regional. Whether its tangy, spicy, or smokey, each region stamps its own personality on a marinade. I've also included salad dressings here.

OMAHA STEAK MARINADE

This one comes from the Midwest.

INGREDIENTS

¹/₃ cup soy sauce
¹/₂ cup olive oil
¹/₃ cup lemon juice
¹/₄ cup Worcestershire sauce *
1¹/₂ tbsp garlic powder
1¹/₂ tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried basil
¹/₂ tsp black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Mix and pour over meat, cover, and refrigerate up to 8 hours.

CORNELL CHICKEN MARINADE

One of the best chicken marinades was developed by Dr. Robert C. Baker, a poultry science and food science professor, while he worked for Penn State University. However, it wasn't until he joined the faculty of Cornell University, with the goal of promoting New York State's poultry industry, that his recipe became such a success. It's the unofficial food of the New York State Fair that occurs every year in Syracuse, even drawing the attention of President Clinton when he visited in 1999. Baker's recipe has even been labelled "State Fair Chicken."

INGREDIENTS

1 egg
¹/₂ cup vegetable oil
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tsp coarse salt
2 tsp poultry seasoning
¹/₄ tsp plack pepper, freshly ground

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, whisk the egg. Add the oil and whisk until the mixture gets thick, homogenous, and a bright yellow—approximately 2 minutes. Whisk in the vinegar, salt, poultry seasoning, and pepper.

Always refrigerate until ready to use because of bacteria in eggs. The sauce is high in acid which kills any bacterial that might be present in the eggs, but it's always wise to refrigerate it to reduce any worry about bacterial content.

In a large resealable plastic bag, place the chicken pieces of your choice. Pour the prepared sauce over the chicken and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours (the longer you marinate, the better).

To grill chicken, place prepared chicken onto a hot grill and cover with lid. Slow cook chicken over medium heat, basting every 5-10 minutes with barbecue sauce and turning several times during barbecuing—approximately 20 to 25 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers an internal temperature of 165ºF.

HONEY MUSTARD VINIGARETTE

This is from Magnolia Table.

INGREDIENTS

¹/₄ cup balsamic vinegar
¹/₄ cup olive oil
¹/₄ cup honey
2 tbsp shallots or onions, minced
2 tsp Dijon mustard
¹/₂ tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Mix well and dress salad.

* Get the pronunciation of Worchestershire Sauce down now so you don't look like a novice in the kitchen. The first thing to know is that the town of Worchester, when spoken of, drops the first "r" and the "ch." So it really sounds like this: Wooster. The second thing is that the british "shire" hardly speaks the "r" at all with a short "i" rather than a long "ī." So it sounds more like this: shur, not sh-eye-r like where the hobbits live. The word then goes from four syllables to three with a softer sound on the end. it sounds like this: Woostershur. Now, isn't that easier to pronounce?

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