Good Food for Cheap Bastards, part 3.2

The Marinade

You must have at least one ingredient in each of the following categories to continue. No cheaters!

Alternatively: Pre-done marinades substitute for all of the following marinade suggestions. I usually add one of the items in the liquid category just to make it last a bit longer but that step is unnecessary. For a few excellent flavors try Lawry’s “Sesame Ginger” or “Caribbean Jerk”. You could also use any vinaigrette-type salad dressing on its own.

Liquids

• Soy sauce
• Broth (Bouillon and hot water works just as well)
• Mirin (a type of sweet Japanese cooking sake/wine)
• Vinegar
• Soda pop (I don’t recommend going crazy here. Coca-Cola is the only kind I’ve actually tried.)
• Beer (the cheaper the better!)
• Coconut Milk
• Peanut Butter (not really a liquid I know)
• Tomato Juice

Spices. No list necessary on the spices. Just pick what you like! A few of the liquids above are flavorful enough that you don’t actually need a lot of extra. Or, you could be like a friend of mine and put lemon pepper on everything. A few of my standards are Chinese Five Spice, Crushed Red Pepper, Tony’s Creole Seasoning, and Cavender’s Greek Seasoning.

A few tips on marinades:

Using sweet bases like Coke or mirin requires a salty kick to cut the flavor or it will be overpowering. For mirin, I mix it with soy sauce for one of my absolute favorite marinades. I used chicken broth with Coke in the past and it turned out fairly well. Mustard and onion also go particularly well with Coca-Cola.

Vinegar requires some sort of salty or sweet flavor in addition in order to taste particularly good. With sweet or salty you’ll get a tangy or tequila/margarita-esque tasty respectively.

Beer can be good on its own but I particularly like it with lemon pepper. Go figure!

Coming Soon:  Part 3.3, The Cooking