Marinades

There are many steak purists out there who believe you should only ever use salt & pepper.  Let the beef speak for itself, and all that.  While I believe that is true for the nicest cuts of steak, I think a good marinade can really elevate a lesser piece of meat.  Outside of beef steaks, I think marinades can be really great on chicken or pork chops as well.  I have even developed my own special marinade for pork chops.   I’m sure I’ll get to that soon enough.

This week I was planning to make some pork chops.  Then we saw some Korean cooking on TV and got inspired.  This picture is the marinade that I used for what started as a modest piece of meat. 

First I took a fork and poked holes all through the meat to tenderize it.  This will break through some muscle and connective tissue to make the meat softer.  It will also create little pores to allow more of the marinade to be absorbed.

I used molasses & soy sauce as the base for my marinade.  I also used a dash (or two) or Sriracha sauce, which is a spicy Asian chili sauce.  Then I added garlic & ginger.  Some people will insist that you use fresh garlic & ginger, but I was working with what was on hand.  And I believe them to be perfectly suitable substitutes.  There are plenty of bold flavors here.  Then I added lime juice for some acidity.  This will also help to tenderize the meat.  Finally, I chopped up some cilantro and mixed it all together in a bowl.  Pour this over your meat, cover it, and let it sit for at least 2 hours and up to 6 in the refrigerator.

Tune in tomorrow to see how it turned out.