What you shouldn't add to barbecue marinade: remember once and for all

Marinade for shashlik can be varied, because every cook has his own secrets.

However, there are products that, according to chefs, can negatively affect the taste and “structure” of meat.

Culinary expert of TUT NEWS, chef and fourth-class baker Yulia Arkhipova talks about what a marinade for shashlik should be, what is best not to add to it and how not to ruin a marinade for meat.

The perfect marinade for shashlik

A good marinade for meat should contain fats that:

• envelop every piece,
• retain juices during frying,
• add flavor.

You can use vegetable oil, unsweetened thick yogurt, cream, sour cream or melted butter.

The marinade should also contain acid, which softens the meat fibers and makes it more tender. For this, you can add citrus juice, pomegranate, a little dry wine, tomatoes or tomato juice, berries.

For a pleasant aroma and interesting taste, spices are needed. Universal for any type of meat are: garlic, bay leaf, black and other types of pepper, basil, thyme, ginger root, oregano and juniper.

What should not be added to the marinade

There are ingredients that should absolutely not be added to a shashlik marinade. The most commonly mentioned of these products are vinegar and mayonnaise.

Despite the popular belief that vinegar can make meat more tender, some cooks argue that it can make meat too tough. As a result, when fried, the meat will be raw on the inside, but burnt on the outside.

It is also not recommended to add mayonnaise to the marinade, which is traditional for many Ukrainians. Here we are talking not so much about taste qualities as about health, because when heat-treated, this sauce turns the dish into a source of carcinogens.

How to Easily Ruin a Meat Marinade

To avoid spoiling the marinade, chefs recommend following several important rules:

• do not add too much acid (lemon, soy sauce, pineapple, kiwi) - its excess can soften the meat too much (for young meat it is not needed at all),
• do not salt the meat too much and too quickly - salt “draws out” moisture, so to prevent the shashlik from turning out dry, it is recommended to add the required amount of salt immediately before cooking,
• do not season the meat with too many ingredients - so that the marinade does not overpower the taste of the meat,
• add a “reasonable” amount of spices - some believe that the maximum permissible amount of spices for meat is four, while too little seasoning can make the future shashlik bland.

You shouldn't experiment with the entire volume of meat - if you want to make some "experimental" marinade, it's better to use only part of the future shashlik for this. Prepare the rest of the "portion" according to the classic proven recipe.

Finally, it is worth remembering that any marinade must be fresh and in sufficient quantity - to completely cover the meat.

To ensure that your future shashlik has a wonderful taste and aroma, you need to keep it in the marinade for at least half an hour. It is best to leave it to marinate for two to three hours.

Earlier we wrote about why some people shouldn’t eat borscht .