The Truth About Marinade
Friday, February 8th, 2008
So we all know you marinade a tough piece of meat to tenderize it, but how does it work? The only way to make meat more tender is to add fat or break down connective tissue like gristle(hence beating it mercilessly with a mallet).
Since a marinade is something acidic like alcohol or lemon juice, you’d probably assume that the acid dissolves it. You’d be wrong.
By that logic, leaving a hunk of beef in a glass of OJ overnight would in a beefy, citrus slurry. But while the result is nearly as gross, that’s not what you get. The meat is still solid.
The trick of a marinade is that the sour activates your salvia glands when you eat it. That’s what breaks down the meats connective tissue. Your spit is full of enzymes designed to loosen the basic parts of your food and get it ready for your gullet.
I said it was true, not appetizing.
