"Stabbing" meat to marinate?

[HistoricFoodie]

We're right on the same page, GLC.

And yet......on one of the trailers for Iron Chef America, Morimoto is jaccarding a whole chicken. I've never seen the actual episode, so don't know what eventually happens to the bird. But I've always wondered.

 

[GLC]

Maybe it was destined for marinade, since chicken is prone to drying. Otherwise, that would be one tough old chicken to need tenderizing and should have been soup.

 

[Caslon]

I too have been wary of stabbing an uncooked steak to tenderize. I thought that once poked full of holes, all the juices would have a way to drain out while being cooked. I assume the stab holes close up a bit before broiling?

I try and work the powdered tenderizer into the meat. What would I use in liquid form that wouldn't flavor the steak, just tenderize it?

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I lost a whole post here, regarding the use of papain (tenderizer, enzyme). Due to my crappy Internet connection. I'll try to reconstruct it tomorrow. Short answer: papain and water slurry, tenderizer but no taste.


On a visceral level I like the idea of stabbing steaks. Think "Norman Bates."

 

[buckytom]

while it is true (in my experience) that stabbing a hunk of meat will only help a marinade penetrate a litte way into the meat, that's all you really need and is more marinade absorbed than had you not done the stabbing. therefore, it does work but just not on the level that most people are picturing. that is that the marinade goes as deep as the stabbing device goes.

a good example of the amount a marinade penetrates meat would be sauerbraten. a 3 or 4 day marinated sauerbraten will actually have a visible ring of how deep the marinade got, a lot like a smoke ring.

if you really want your marinade throughout a piece of meat, you can inject the marinade directly into the center of the meat with a marinade syringe.

another trick is to coat the meat first, then stab the rub or marinade in. stabbing, adding marinade, then vacuum sealing also helps marinade to penetrate.

 

[lyndalou]

Thanks all. Some really good information. I think I'll get a marinade syringe and try Bucky's suggestion next time. I really didn't get the flavor I was hoping for by just stabbing the steak.

 

[Caslon]

If I marinate a steak long enough for a greek sandwich, the steak turns almost white as chicken. I freaked out a bit seeing that the first time, but not after it cooked up superb. I haven't marinated my steak to whiteness in years.

There was a taco drive thru that got converted to a greek drive thru that went outta business. They sold the best greek kaboob (not gyro) sammies. The beef in the sammie looked like chicken, it wasn't. It was beef. yum

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

The new white meat! Who would have known? How long was that marination anyway? And what are the guidelines on marination maximum times? (I generally marinate beef no more than 1-2 hours, if even that.)

 

[buckytom]

cas, you should ask the proprietors of the place you question what exactly they are serving.

i've found that almost every greek or yuogoslav/turkish place that i've ordered from substitute meat generously. often, they mix pork, beef, and lamb fat while it is marinating and call everything a mixed lamb grill as the cheaper meats pick up the lambey flavour, then they charge you for lamb.

btw, acids will "cook" most proteins until white, so the marinade must be acidic.

 

[Caslon]

I'm just saying, if you marinate beef long enough, it turns white, looks like chicken and makes a killer greek sandwich.

That drive thru went outta business, but it was unique of them to have that. A greek drive thru. I was bummed when it went back to being a mexican fast food drive thru again.

Greek food is stellar with me. That drive thru was anyways.

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

The only time I marinade steak is when I use the vacpak sous vide method.The vacpacking forces the marinade into any meat quickly without disturbing the texture

 

[TATTRAT]

I'm just saying, if you marinate beef long enough, it turns white, looks like chicken ...

If my beef ever turned white, and looked like chicken, I think it would be WELL past its' prime.


In regards to stabbing meat for a marinade, I am in the "only marinate cheaper cuts", and dry season better cuts camp.

A lot of cheaper cuts already come "needled" these days to break down some of the connective tissues that make them tough. these cuts lend themselves well to marinades, and I treat as such.

If I have a bunch of 18oz rib eyes, the only time they are getting cut into, is after cooking/resting, and then eating.

 

[zebulin]

marinading

I am a marinading fool! I like to marinade food for atleast 2 days and it always come out tender and delicious

 

[Cerise]

Even if marinade doesn't penetrate the meat, stabbing meat with fork will help to tenderize the meat on its own. Obviously you are not going to marinade a premium cut meat, it just doesn’t need it. But tougher cuts will definitely benefit even if it is only a drop below surface.

That has always been my understanding, as well.

If you want to get all "Norman Bates" (lol), try...

Psycho Chicken

Original Psycho Chicken Recipe - Food.com - 105446