Atough truth: Marinades don’t tenderize

It’s hard to wage a war against ancient kitchen wisdom. Some techniques are so steeped in tradition that they go largely unchallenged, even if they work against our culinary best interests.

A prime example: Marinating — the longer, the better — will help tenderize tough cuts of meat and pack in tons flavor. Unfortunately, there’s more myth than science swimming in that bath of oils, herbs, spices and whatnot.

I’m as guilty as the next cook for adhering to popular marinating knowledge. But a recent deep dive into what’s really happening in that liquid has me convinced I’m wasting my time in most instances.

The biggest surprise — and one painstakingly tested by the obsessives at Cook’s Illustrated — is that marinades are essentially a surface treatment, regardless of time spent soaking. They marinated short ribs in hour-long intervals for up to 18 hours and found, even on the longest time, the marinade didn’t penetrate the meat beyond a couple millimeters.

Craig “Meathead” Goldwyn, the scribe behind the popular amazingribs.com and respected authority on all things carnivorous, put it in simple terms on his site: “Meat is a protein sponge saturated with liquid. About 75 percent of meat is water. There’s not much room for any more liquid in there.”

Goldwyn, who’s also a marinade skeptic, argues the only way get a liquid soak to reach deep into the flesh is in a salty

brine. He’s a fan of a term the Cook’s Illustrated crew came up with, “brinerade,” or a marinade containing enough salt to act as a tenderizing brine.

Salt’s molecules are much smaller than the molecules in sugar, in the allicin in garlic and in other common marinade ingredients. That tiny size allows salt to penetrate the meat deeply “because it reacts chemically and electrically with the water in the meat” in a way larger molecules

can’t.

Cook’s Illustrated tests also showed acid in a marinade, be it vinegar, citrus juice, wine or another source, doesn’t tenderize meat deeply. Instead, it breaks down the surface of the meat, rendering it mushy and mealy, which only gets worse the longer the soak.

Alcohol, another common marinade ingredient, also works in undesirable ways. Famed chef Thomas Keller spelled this out in his landmark “The French Laundry Cookbook,” saying, “Alcohol doesn’t tenderize; cooking tenderizes. Alcohol in a marinade in effect cooks the exterior of the meat, preventing the meat from fully absorbing the flavors in the marinade.”

That’s not to say there isn’t a time and place for a marinade. Both Cook’s Illustrated and Goldwyn advocate for marinades to provide an extra punch of flavor with thin cuts of meat such as pork chops, steaks or chicken cutlets. In those cases, a short soak in a marinade with little if any acid or alcohol can provide a kick of flavor on the surface without doing damage.

If you insist on a splash of booze in your marinade, Keller suggests placing wine, beer or spirit in a pan along with aromatics and letting that simmer to cook off the alcohol. Once that liquid has cooled, you can pour it over the meat to marinate without affecting the surface texture.

A better place to incorporate the flavor of alcoholic beverages is in the pot or skillet with longsimmered dishes such as stews and braises. In that application, the results won’t be any more or less tender because of the booze, but the alcohol will bind with the aromatic components of the dish for a more fragrant and flavorful result.

Getty Images Marinades are useful to add flavor to thin cuts of meat, such as pork chops and chicken cutlets.