Does marinating hinder brining?
I learned, that "marinating" for days before cooking, doesn't actually work, since nothing can actually penetrate the meat very deep.
However, with salt, it seems to be a different story.
Does that mean, that marinating works, but only the salt is actually penetrating the meat?
And does that also mean, that when dry brining, you should rather only use salt in order to maximize its absorption and not have other stuff stand in the way?
Are there other ingredients, which penetrate the meat in a matter of days, like salt?
Best Answer
First: the information that "marinades only penetrate 1/8 inch" appears to be entirely from the show America's Test Kitchen (ATK); I reviewed multiple articles on it on the internet, and all of them cited ATK or didn't cite any source. I mention this because ATK has been wrong before due to flawed test conditions, so maybe some judicious testing of your own is in order. Assuming that ATK is correct, though, here's answers to your questions:
With marination, only the salt will affect the meat more than 1/8 inch deep. However, the other flavors will affect that top 1/8 inch, so if you're eating that portion you still care. Also, some marinating techniques like lechon asado involve piercing the meat many times, which lets the marinade penetrate more of the meat by increasing the surface area.
For a dry brine, having ingredients other than salt would only interfere with the brining process if the other ingredients were on thickly enough to keep the salt from contacting the surface. Since dry brining rarely involves a 100% salt coverage (although there are a few that do), this seems unlikely to be a real problem.
Sugar will actually have a similar effect on meat as salt does; both denature proteins and increase moisture retention. Of course, sugar is rarely used to brine meat, but it is used for fish. Serious tenderizers, like bromelain from pineapple, may also penetrate the meat -- certainly we believed it did for South Texas fajita recipes -- but I haven't ever seen an actual scientific test of this.
Pictures about "Does marinating hinder brining?"
Can you brine after marinating?
Can I Brine and Then Marinate? Yes, you can! If you brine then marinate you can reap the benefits of each technique and cook juicy and flavorful proteins. Just be sure to not use salt in the marinade since the food will already absorb it from the brine.Is brining different than marinating?
While brining is for moisture, marinating is for flavor. Marinades typically contain acid, which helps break down the protein and helps infuse the meat with the flavors that you have going in your marinade, whether that's herbs or spices or some other source.What happens if you marinate too long?
Time: Marinating some food too long can result in tough, dry, or poor texture. That means that you can't let those shrimp sit all weekend in their marinade, you have to cook them.Can you let something marinate too long?
Information. Most recipes for marinating meat and poultry recommend six hours up to 24 hours. It is safe to keep the food in the marinade longer, but after two days it is possible that the marinade can start to break down the fibers of the meat, causing it to become mushy.Does marinating do anything?
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