How do you flavor the food?
One common questions is:
"What can I do to get more flavor in my food?"
On the one hand, I am determined to let the raw ingredients we use speak for themselves, but it is also rewarding to experiment with ingredients using different flavors. It can be as simple as putting salt and pepper on the food, but also as "complex" as a good curry where one cooks all the spices first and then mixes them together to bring out the exotic flavors.
I use four methods to give food (the ingredients) flavor, and these methods are used throughout much of the book.
Marinades
A marinade usually consists of three parts: oil, acidifiers and "decoration". Oil is used to keep the ingredients moist. Acidifiers are used to add flavor to food, and to a lesser extent to make meat tender, as many believe. There is actually very little that an acidifier can do to make a piece of meat more tender if the meat is not tender enough already. What I call the “decorations” are all the other flavors that can be added to the marinade.
Besides having "only" salt and pepper on food, marinades are the best-known way to add more flavor to your food, and can provide endless possibilities. There is a darker side to this, however. Here is an evaluation of marinades - from someone that is actually not a very big fan of marinades:
Pros
Almost endless flavor possibilities. You can use anything from fresh herbs, chopped vegetables, dried herbs and spices, to various liquids such as wine, soy sauce and fruit juices.
Cons
Making a marinade requires planning, both in terms of buying the ingredients and especially the time required for the food to sit in the marinade. This is not always convenient, especially for spontaneous barbecuing.
A marinade quickly becomes costly when using ingredients like fresh herbs and wine. You may want to plan using "leftovers" to avoid having to throw everything away. It is rare that an entire pot of fresh herbs is used in one marinade.
As mentioned earlier, acidifiers are often used in marinades. Remember that acidifiers will affect food by "eating" away the surface. With prolonged marinating, the surface of the food will actually become soft or mushy.
If there is oil in the marinade, you may want to wipe most of the oil off before putting the food on the grill to avoid problems with flames.
Spice Mixes (also known as "rub" or "dry rub")
A spice mix can be as simple as salt and pepper. It may also contain a variety of dried herbs and spices. Spice mixtures are what I mostly use to bring out the full flavor of the food, and there are many good reasons for this:
Pros
Spice mixes are easy to make. It only takes a few minutes to make a mix. Feel free to blend several types of spices together at the beginning of the grilling season and store them in airtight containers in the kitchen cupboard.
Spice mixes are the most cost effective.
Spice mixes require no planning. Sprinkle the mixture on the food to be grilled while the grill is heating up, and then you are ready for take off.
Spice mixes never affect the consistency of the food to be grilled.
Cons
There are fewer opportunities to diversify taste with spice mixtures than with marinades as they consist solely of salt, pepper, dried spices and dried herbs.
Wet spice mixtures (also known as "paste" or "wet rub")
A wet rub is a cross between a spice mixture and a marinade, and this combination offers a world of great flavor opportunities, as well as some of the benefits that dried spice mixtures provide.
Pros
A spreadable mix of spices gives you the ability to use both the dried spice and herbs, as well as fresh ingredients such as finely chopped vegetables, citrus peels and fresh herbs.
Just enough liquid (usually oil) is added to the mixture so that it can be applied directly on the food.
Although the ingredients can sit and "marinate" in the wet spice mixture if you want, it is just as easy to smear the mixture on right before grilling.
Cons
One must be a little careful with heat when the mixture contains oil.
As with marinades, it is wise to have a plan to make use of the expensive ingredients that may be left over.
Grill me Tender (brining)
Brining can be a great thing to use, especially with proteins containing little fat. The amazing thing is that leaner meats and seafood can become noticeably juicier using this process.
Make a brine using salt and water (or another type of liquid such as beer or fruit juice). It is also common for a brine to contain sugar and/or other flavors. In fact, it is the salt that "carries" the juiciness, the salty taste and other flavors, into the raw meat or seafood. A brine may contain, among other things, dried or fresh herbs, different vegetables or citrus peel.
The amount of salt in a brine will vary. A larger amount of salt per liter of water will reduce the time required for the meat to sit in the salt bath. A "standard" recipe will contain approx. 30 grams of table salt to one liter of water, but there are mixes with a good deal more salt than this.
Do not miss out on experimenting with brining shrimp, pork chops, chicken or turkey breast.