How to bind flavors to meats.

If you put your finger in a small bowl of salt, a few grains may stick, but it will mostly come out dry. If you were to lick your finger and do it again, it will come out covered.

That’s the easiest way to explain the effectiveness of applying a binding agent to food. A binding agent is any form of wet ingredient that allows spices and seasonings to stick to whatever you’re cooking. It’s mostly associated with meats, but the idea applies to any food that gets spices.

“Just about anything is fair game to use as (a binding agent) as long as it will cling,” said Brian West, a San Antonio chef, culinary instructor and restaurant consultant. “It’s a technique that has been around for centuries and brings a little extra layer of craftsmanship to your cooking. I’d be hard-pressed to name a protein that it wouldn’t make sense to do it with.”

Some argue they aren’t needed. Meats typically have plenty of embedded moisture, and that alone is good enough to keep dry rubs on. True, but half of it will end up falling off, and it’s a

shame to let seasoning go to waste.

Another positive to using binders, according to West, is that they help meat retain moisture, especially when using thicker ingredients such as mayonnaise, yellow mustard, tomato paste, Greek yogurt or maple syrup. They also create a firmer crust with a deeper color.

Some suggested binders, like yellow mustard, might sound scary to use. But unlike a long bath brine or marinade, the flavors of the binding agent don’t transfer as much, so your meat won’t end up tasting like a ballpark frank.

How much taste transfers depends a lot on cooking times. Coat a steak in olive oil, and it will still retain that richness after a five-minute sear. But coat a brisket in olive oil, and you won’t know it’s there after a 12-hour cook.

“If you can’t taste it, it’s because the ingredient changes during the cooking process,” West said. “But it is changing the flavor profile on the surface, and that’s a crucial step. In the end, there’s no question that it creates a better product.”

Experimenting with binders is also a lot of fun. Some fail, others succeed.

For example, I have discovered to be really careful with barbecue sauce and ketchup. They contain a lot of sugar, and if applied at the beginning of the cooking process, the meat will end up blackened and burnedlooking meat. Both work better as a finishing glaze, which is why your grandmother did it that way with her meatloaf. And finishing glazes is another future Food Shack unto itself.

Here are some great binders to use as a starting point:

Applesauce: It can get a little watery, so add honey to it to help it stick better. The grainy, chunky texture of applesauce helps produce a crust that has a little tang to it when backed up with an apple juice spritz or a finishing glaze during the cooking process.

Mayonnaise: Mostly a mixture of eggs, olive oil and little lemon juice, it’s a jack-of-all-trades binder that does the best job keeping moisture inside anything to which it’s applied. The flavor of the mayonnaise doesn’t translate much, but there is a payoff in fantastic color and excellent, pastelike retention of your applied seasonings.

Mustard: Classic yellow mustard is a recipe staple for pulled pork and slabs of ribs, but it also works well with chicken. The signature flavor mostly dissipates when cooking. Dijon and brown varieties work great with fish, and when cooked for the few minutes fish takes will retain more of their flavor.

Melted butter: It’s a well-known fact that butter occupies the same sphere as bacon in that it makes everything better. But this is another allpurpose player that, unfortunately, doesn’t get in on much binding fun outside of the Thanksgiving Day turkey. That needs to change, because the oils inside butter help keep any meat moist and adds a richness to the finished flavor.

Olive oil: Great with nearly all forms of protein — paint it on and add seasonings for anything that will be cooked quickly. It’s perfect for a creating a good crust on a steak.

Steak sauce: I don’t recommend dousing a good, cooked steak with this, but on the front end, it’s great as a binder that has just enough thickness to hold the seasonings in place. That little kick from the vinegar is apparent at first bite and will tickle the tongue.

William Luther / Staff photographer Binding agents such as mustard, steak sauce, olive oil, butter, applesauce and mayonnaise keep seasonings on and moisture in pork roast, chicken and other meats.

Photos by William Luther / Staff photographer Smoked Herbed Mayonnaise Pork Roast and chicken breasts come off the grill. How much of the taste of binders transfers to meat depends on its cooking time.

A dry rub is sprinkled on a chicken breast after a commercial butter sauce was put on it as a binder.