Marinades: A Cheap Cut of Meat's Best Friend

Meat loving peoples of the world have been trying to figure out ways to make inexpensive, tough pieces of meat tender since they started putting flesh to flame.

Luckily, we now have the technology to make all but the most indestructible cuts of meat yield to a fork. The secret to making your basic meats taste extra rich? Marinades!

Marinades are a great starting place to make more of your meat. Back in the days before refrigeration, marinades served double duty. One function was to prevent the meat from spoiling by surrounding the meat in an acidic atmosphere that kept out bacteria. The second function was to flavor and tenderize the meat. These days we can just use these techniques to make a cheap cut of meat, such as flank steak or pork shoulder chops, the best they can be.

The primary components of any good marinade are something acidic, like lime juice or yogurt, and then ingredients such as herbs, spices or fruit to add flavor. Some marinade ingredients such as fresh ginger, pineapple and papaya even contain added enzymatic tenderizers.  Below are a few simple marinade ideas.

Yogurt Marinade

Ingredients:
2 cups plain yogurt
2 cloves crushed garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons red curry
2 tablespoons sweet paprika or mild chili powder
1 1/2 tablespoons salt

Directions: Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Combine with grilling cuts like pork shoulder chops, chicken legs or even lamb shoulder chops for one to 12 hours in a zip top plastic bag. This Indian-style marinade does well on a medium hot gas or electric grill and also makes a great marinade for fried chicken!