The meat is pickled not only for barbecue, but also for various baked dishes. The main goal is to make it softer, juicier, fill it with taste. But sometimes it is pickling that spoils everything, and the finished dish is not happy. How to prevent this? A selection of common pickling errors or how to do it is not necessary.
Mistake One: Too Much Salt
Without salt, the meat is tasteless, it is fresh, such a barbecue or pork on the table just will not please. But even worse when they are salty and tough. Yes, salt draws moisture from the meat, the juice comes out, the fibers harden. Therefore, do not add too much. Very often the meat is pickled in a small amount of salt or without it at all, and at the end they add either the finished dish and season with brackish sauces.
By the way, instead of salt or in addition to it, you can use soy sauce for marinade. He does not draw out juices, on the contrary, softens the fibers, impregnates, gives the piece softness and juiciness. In addition, soy sauce is combined with almost all spices, mustard, honey, adjika, with it the meat is much tastier and more interesting.
Second mistake: acetic acid, citric, tomato
Sour foods give meat interesting notes; they have a positive effect on taste if added in very small quantities. It is necessary to squeeze out a lot of lemon juice or season meat with vinegar, as everything goes bad. Also acidic tomato juices, tomatoes, pasta are badly affected. And they delay the cooking and frying processes, for this reason these ingredients are not added and during the preparation of other dishes, they are introduced at the very end.
What to do? You can add a little lemon juice or tomato, it is undesirable to introduce classic table vinegar, it is better to replace it with apple. Another way is to cook meat without acid, and then serve sour sauces, pickled onions in vinegar.
By the way, vinegar is often used by meat producers so that cooked kebabs do not spoil longer or to mask an unpleasant odor. Home-made meat does not need this.
Mistake Three: Marinade Vinaigrette
Pour kefir, add mayonnaise, tomato paste, honey, mustard. This is all wrong. You should not make an incomprehensible vinaigrette with a strange taste from the marinade. It is necessary to give the meat certain notes. If kefir is the base, then add spices to it.
If mayonnaise is used, then it will be the base. But you do not need to mix together. Even worse, when fatty or dairy products are added to wine, pomegranate juice, combined with mineral water.
With spices, the situation is simpler, you can mix different types of peppers, spices, ground herbs, add dried onions, garlic. But it is also not worth overdoing, nevertheless, the meat should have a natural taste. With an abundance of spicy and aromatic spices, it will be more like a sausage or a cheap semi-finished product.
Fourth error: wash or not wash?
Do I need to wash meat before pickling? Sure! If there are any doubts about the quality or an active donation, then it is advisable to soak at least half an hour in cold water.
So what is the mistake? After washing, the piece needs to be dried. It is thoroughly wiped with napkins, paper towels, only then they cut and cover, rubbed with marinades. If water droplets are left on the surface, spices and marinades penetrate worse.
By the way, it’s not enough to just pour the marinade over the meat, you need to rub it thoroughly, and mash the pieces with your hands.
Fifth mistake: no fat on meat or marinade
If the meat is originally without fat, you need to use fatty marinades for it. It is not good to fill with wine or pomegranate juice, nothing good will come of it. It is better to take mayonnaise, sour cream, add vegetable oil and other similar ingredients. Fats not only impregnate lean pieces, but also form a protective film on the surface. She will not allow juices to go outside.
By the way, if meat without fat will be cooked in the oven, then you can stuff it with slices of frozen butter or lard.
Sixth error: reusing marinade
Sometimes meat is taken out of the marinade, but it is not thrown away, other pieces are reloaded. This is one of the saddest mistakes. Meat juices have already reacted with spices, soaked vegetables, the formation of bacteria has begun. You cannot reuse the old marinade. Moreover, never get the onions out of it to the table (yes, this is also practiced).
Marinade is a side component that is not reused; you must discard the meat after extracting it.
Seventh error: no need to rush
Marinating is not easy adding spices. The meat must be given time to soak, insist, so it is always soaked in advance. Pork needs to stand for three or four hours, chicken an hour or two is enough, beef requires much more time. But in many respects the terms depend on the marinade itself. If there is mustard or honey in it, then the process will go much faster.
Is the meat right?
One of the main mistakes when pickling is not the right meat. Do not grab the first piece that comes across. If the cut from the animal’s legs consists of a huge number of developed muscles, then it can be soaked for at least a whole week, but nothing good will come out. For roasting on the grill or cooking in the oven, clippings, parts from the neck, and carbads are used.
Other common mistakes:
- Product from the freezer. If the meat has already been frozen, then a delicious and juicy kebab or steaks from it will not work. Even worse and more dangerous if it has been in the freezer twice.
- Large pieces. Marinade is not omnipotent, it is difficult for him to penetrate a kilogram piece. Therefore, large specimens for boiled pork need to be pierced, stuffed with garlic, vegetables, soaked for at least 12 hours.
- Films on the surface. Even the thinnest and most inconspicuous films on pieces of meat interfere with the penetration of marinade, softening the fibers. They must be removed.
As for the temperature of the meat, before pickling, he needs to lie down on the table for an hour and warm up, this is especially true for fatty pieces. If the dish will be cooked soon, then you can not clean the pickled meat in the refrigerator, nothing will happen to it at room temperature for 4-5 hours.
