Poking holes in your meat before marinating

[mindgame]

this may sound dumb but who knows
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is it a bad idea to poke holes in your meat prior to marinating, so the marinade can get into the meat -
initially i would think the the juices would leak out, but what is the difference if you were to cut the meat in half prior to cooking..it seals when it cooks no?
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would it allow the marinade to get deep inside the meat better and then seal up as it cooks locking flavor in or would this just dry out your meat.???????

 

[texasgirl]

I've never done it myself, but, I think it would seal up when it is cooking and be fine. Someone with more knowledge will be here soon.

 

[GB]

That is not a dumb question at all. Small holes will help the marinade penetrate the meat and you will not lose significant juices because of the holes. There is even a tool called a jaccard (do a search on Google) that makes small holes in meat prior to cooking to tenderize the meat.

What you do not want to do is poke holes or cut meat as soon as it is finished cooking. You want to let it rest a little while (how long depends on the size of the piece of meat). If you cut into meat as soon as you pull it off the heat then you WILL lose juices. Letting it rest for a few minutes helps to stop that from happening.

 

[Andy M.]

As GB said, poking holes is taboo after cooking has begun. When it's cold and raw, poke away.

I use a jaccarding tool on flank steak prior to marination. Meat tenderizer products call for you to poke holes prior to adding the product.

 

[MrEd]

I use a large fork to pierce holes in tougher cuts of meat like London Broil. That allows the marinade to permeate the meat, and also tenderizes it a little.

 

[bknox]

Sometimes when we have thick steaks I will not only poke holes in it but stuff the holes with peices of garlic. I do this with whole chicken as well.

Remember to always allow meat to rest after cooking and before cutting so the juices can redistribute. Cutting before resting may allow all the succulence to run out onto your cutting board.

 

[buckytom]

aghlghlghlghghghghhlgh, succ-u-lencccccce....

poke hole as you will, add marinade, massage (the meat, not the cook ) and draw out as much air as possible to help the marinade get in.

i've heard those vacu-sealers work really well to help speed up deep marination by drawing air out of the meats or veggies, and replacing it with marinade.

 

[GB]

I love using my Foodsaver for marinating BT. It is amazing how much it speeds up the process and how well it helps move the marinade throughout the entire piece of meat.

 

[BigDog]

poke hole as you will, add marinade, massage (the meat, not the cook ) and draw out as much air as possible to help the marinade get in.

Hey, what's wrong with massaging the cook? After a long day in the kitchen, a massage might feel good!

 

[buckytom]

lol, not from me it wouldn't 'dog!!!

mrs. bigdog might be better at it...

 

[mish]

Sometimes when we have thick steaks I will not only poke holes in it but stuff the holes with peices of garlic. I do this with whole chicken as well.

Remember to always allow meat to rest after cooking and before cutting so the juices can redistribute. Cutting before resting may allow all the succulence to run out onto your cutting board.

Same here, bknox. I do the same with a roast as well, poke holes and insert garlic cloves. Sun-dried tomatoes are good too. Deee-lish! A tenderizer might help or slicing the meat against the grain.

 

[MrFizz]

So.... very old thread. But I have some comments I believe are worthwhile. As for holes in whole muscle meats, you can get around it. I got tired of having to soak whole muscle parts in teriyaki marinade sauce for days on end to get adequate penetration for flavor infusion and I didn't wanna poke holes. So I started using a technique called pressure infusion marination to speed up the flavor infusion side of the marination equation. Google for "pressure infusion marination" if you are unfamiliar with it.

Now a question from me: Can anyone tell me if pressure infusion marination is one of the techniques used by the chefs on the Marination Mobile truck? I have no clue how to contact them. If I could, I would ask them. Surely someone reading this post can give me a site I can post to that these guys read on some frequency basis - or an eMail address I can use to hook up with someone on the truck - a cell phone might be asking a bit much. But I'll take anything.