marinades will not rescue poorly cooked or bland meat.
After testing hundreds of marinade variations on all sorts of
meat, I’ve found that the best marinades share three
common ingredients: oil, acid, and a salty liquid, preferably
a protease (more on those later).
Key to Great Marinades #1: Oil
Oil is essential for three purposes. First, it emulsifies the
marinade, making it thicker and tackier, causing it to stick
more efficiently to the meat. Second, many flavorful
compounds—like those in onions, garlic, and many spices
—are oil soluble. With a fat-based medium coating the meat,
you get better, more even flavor distribution. Finally, the oil
helps the meat cook more evenly, providing a buffer
between the heat of the grill and the surface of the meat.
Omitting it detracts from all three of these qualities.
Key to Great Marinades #2: Acid
I used to think that acid was essential in a marinade for
tenderizing purposes, and it’s true—acid can slightly
tenderize tough connective tissue in meat. Unfortunately,
excessive acid can also start to chemically “cook” meat,
denaturing its protein and causing it to firm up and
eventually turn chalky (think: ceviche). If you’re going to
use acid in a marinade, it’s best to go with no more than
equal parts acid and oil, and limit exposure time to under 10
hours to prevent the meat from getting chalky. You may be
surprised to learn that despite their reputation, marinades do
not actually penetrate particularly far into meat—even after
the course of a night, a marinade will penetrate no farther