How to Use Marinades, Rubs, and Sauces

Using a combination of wine, herbs and wood to provide grilled food a smoky taste is a great way of enhancing their taste. Another aspect that plays an equally important role in giving grilled food a very distinctive taste is what kind of rubs or marinades, dipping sauces and basting liquids you use for your food.

A proper selection of these will turn good grilled food into great food. In fact, grilling is a fairly easy and a great way of cooking food. What makes them so special are the distinctive and exciting tastes that they acquire because of added flavors.

• Both rubs and marinades add flavor to the food by allowing the food to soak in the flavors for some time.

Rubs are typically applied onto the food, which is then placed in the refrigerator for many hours so that the food can acquire a strong flavor. Most of the time, the rubs seal in the juice of the food and form a crust over the food, which in itself is very delicious.

One can use dry rubs which are just combinations of various seasonings like paprika, black or white pepper and garlic powder. Depending on your taste preferences, you could add mustard powder or ground red pepper or even some brown sugar to the rub. Some of the herbs that we had mentioned earlier, like oregano, thyme, basil, can also be crushed and added to the rub to give the food a direct taste of these herbs.

Another alternative is to use paste rubs. These are essentially dry rubs that are made into a paste by adding some amount of wet ingredients. You could add olive oil, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, even crushed garlic to bind together the dry seasonings.

Marinades too are used for adding flavor but unlike rubs, these are used to moisten the surface of the meats. This added moisture prevents the meat from drying out while being grilled and helps it to stay nice and juicy.

Marinades are basically of two types – flavoring marinades and tenderizing marinades. As the name suggests flavoring marinades perform the function of giving an added flavor to meat, especially tender meat like fish, boneless poultry meat and even vegetables. These require marinating for a very short while – anywhere from fifteen minutes to about two hours should be sufficient. However, tenderizing marinades are used to tenderize meat. These contain special acidic ingredients that act as the tenderizing agents, like vinegar, yogurt, lime or lemon juice, tomatoes, even wines. Fruits like papaya, figs, kiwi and pineapple are other interesting tenderizing ingredients. These ingredients can be mixed with some oil, herbs and seasonings for a perfect aromatic blend of marinade. Lamb meat, beef, pork and even poultry meat with bony pieces need to be marinated for at least a few hours together, if not overnight, for the meat to become tender and to soak in the flavors.

While preparing the marinade, do not use aluminum pans or containers since they can have harmful chemical reactions with the acidic ingredients. Instead use ceramic, glass or even stainless steel pans. Another good choice to store the marinating foods is plastic, resealable food storage bags.

Whether you need to marinate the food for fifteen minutes or overnight, make sure they are turned occasionally so that the flavor spreads evenly throughout the food.

• While rubs and marinades are typically applied to foods before they are being grilled, basting is used as the food is getting grilled and dipping sauces are served as accompaniments along with the grilled food. These are excellent ways to add extra flavor to the food and give it a special zing.

One can prepare exclusive basting or dipping sauces to go with different kinds of food. However, if you are short on time, you can just put aside some of the marinade before you add the meat and use this as a base to make a dipping sauce or basting. Another quick alternative is to use the marinade that has been drained from the meat as a basting sauce to be applied on the meat as it gets grilled. The only safety precaution be to taken here is that the meat should cook for at least five minutes after application of basting sauce prepared from the drained marinade. Similarly, while preparing dipping sauce from this marinade, bring it to a full boil and only then use it to prepare the sauce. This way any bacteria contained in the raw meat and that might have made their way into the marinade will be killed and there is no danger of contamination.