Marination Inspiration

Studio 5 Contributor Laura Wolford has created some easy to prepare rubs and marinades. These give you some guidelines to create your own marinades and rubs.

You can create your own marinades by following these guidelines:

Garlic: 2 or more cloves minced

Oil: Always include at least 3 Tbl oil in marinade, this allows oil soluble herbs to release their full flavor.

Soy: This can be used in place of salt. It will impart another dimension of flavor.

Sugar: This will add another level of flavor. Try light and dark brown sugar as well as honey.

Herbs: 2 Tbl minced herbs, try a variety like basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, chives and parsley. (When making an Italian herb marinade, use salt not soy sauce).

Use caution when using the following ingredients

Lemon, lime or orange juice, vinegar and wine; any acidic ingredients will make the meat mushy – not tender. If you do need to use these ingredients for flavor, marinate meat for only 15 minutes or so and use in small quantities.

Two No-Fail Marinades

Herb Marinade

1/3 cup oil

2 Tbl fresh herbs of choice, such as basil, thyme, parsley, chives or rosemary

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp pepper

To make either of the marinades above spicy or more robust add ingredients like; 2 tsp cayenne or red pepper flakes, 1 minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, 1 minced seeded jalapeno, 2 Tbl Worcestershire sauce, or 2 tsp dry or ground mustard.

No-Fail Rubs

Herb Rub

2 Tbls rosemary

2 Tbl thyme

2 Tbl parsley

2 garlic cloves minced

2 tsp each salt and pepper

Spicy Dry Rub

2 Tbl paprika

2 Tbl dried oregano

1 Tbl garlic salt or powder

1 Tbl brown sugar

1 tsp cayenne or red pepper flakes

1 ½ each salt and pepper

1 ½ tsp celery salt, optional

All rubs aren’t necessarily dry. You can mix wet ingredients, such as oil, with the dry ingredients and spread over the meat. Rubs can be so varied; don’t be afraid to include your favorite seasonings and herbs. Here are two very basic rubs, one dry and one wet.

Simple Dry Rub

1 cup kosher salt

2 Tbl coarse cracked pepper

1 Tbl cayenne

Simple Wet Rub

3 Tbl olive oil

1 ½ Tbl dried Italian seasoning

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

For an easy accessible downloadable card see our “Online Extra.