Why I never marinate my meat and fish

“The sauce goes at the end!”

Those who have taken BBQ 101 know how much I repeat this phrase.

It's not for nothing; it's surely one of the things that will save your grilling the most! How many times have I seen people buy ready-to-cook/grill products full of sauces at the grocery store... I feel like telling them "Don't buy that, you're going to have to rinse your lunch with a pressure hose to remove all the excess marinade before cooking it!!!" But hey, that's my professional deformation that wants that.

Whether I intervene or not, there are many people who take their meal out of the packaging and cook it right after. But... well, they just don't want to be surprised if their meat or other thing comes out of the BBQ (or oven, whatever that machine is 😮) all charred. The marinade is added at the end of cooking (we just want to use it to give a tasty, sexy, caramelized crust to our meats 😏).

Marinades = sacrilege

As you can see, I am not a big fan of marinades. Well… products coated with marinade/sauce. Why? Because marinades (and I am talking about liquid marinades here) are full of sugar and oil, which are two ingredients that are known to burn when they come into contact with a heat source. So it burns and carbonizes the food that has been soaking in it when it cooks, and… no one wants to eat something carbonized.

It affects the cooking, actually. Yes, because at first, the oil can make the food stick to the grate, so you won't know when it's the right time to turn it. And... the process repeats itself when another surface comes into contact with the grate. So it complicates things quite a bit, let's say...

And not only that! Marinades are also literally used to make money in butcher shops and grocery stores. Why do I say that? Take a BBQ grill as an example. A cast iron grill, we put oil on it to prevent oxygen from oxidizing it. The same thing is true for food. If we wrap meat that is about to go out of date in oil, we will be able to keep it for almost a week longer because the oil will prevent oxygen from oxidizing it. So if we put one plus one together… stores often marinate their products to be able to sell them longer. A solution that will now no longer have any effect on you. 😉

And... I think about that, besides, there's no point in marinating food for a long time. When you go to cut your steak, the marinade won't even have penetrated its center, so... it's pretty much a waste of time.

The case of oil

Oil, it can be relevant to put some. Be careful, not just any kind or any quantity. You want to use oil that can withstand high temperatures, like sesame oil, grapeseed oil or avocado oil (butter does the job too, but it's not oil 🤪), and only put a tiny bit on your food or BBQ grills.

Yes, I allow you to put a little bit on it, because it can help you make sure your seasonings adhere well to your meat, or it can prevent it from sticking to the grill.

What to use instead of liquid marinades

The best of both worlds is really dry marinades. You get the great taste of the marinade, the sugar that goes to high temperatures, and this, without the oil that burns and carbonizes, so there is nothing better. Personally, this is what I use.

If you are ever unsure of which seasonings to use on your meats, I recommend the following:

• For beef:Montreal , Texas or Steakenator dry rub .
• For chicken: Kansas , Explorer orCaribbean dry marinade .
• For salmon:Caribbean , California , Ready for Alaska or Santa Fe dry rub .

Otherwise, another interesting option is to inject the meats. You can make your own injection mix if you want; the important thing is that there are no large grains. So, to avoid that, you better pass your spice mix through a sieve.

The advantage of injecting is that the flavor will really get to the heart of your food.

So dry marinades or injections are the preferred options/your best friends to add flavor to your food.

There you go. Now that you've read all that, I hope you don't put your marinade/sauce-filled food on the BBQ anymore! 😜

Happy BBQ, and… enjoy your meal!