I am bad at letting things marinate: ideas, problems, meat.
I want to get to the post-process: eating.
Which brings me back to marinating.
I am so often confronted by the phrase, marinate overnight, which delights me.
What if Im a light sleeper?
What if Im a night owl and prep it at 11 p.m.?
I found myself wondering, does it even matter?
(This is supposed to be about quick dinner options, after all.)
Each went in their own bags, with most of the air evacuated.
I let the sun set.
I took an edible, and then, as if by magic or REM cycle, it was morning.
Around 1 p.m., I took the bags out and took a look.
Everything seemed to be going swimmingly.
I then took the unmarinated items and treated them like I had their twins the night before.
After two hours, I took everything out.
The chicken and pork chops went into a sous vide water bath set to 142F.
The eggplant went onto a plate under the broiler.
I happen to enjoy raw silken tofu, so I didnt bother cooking it.
Does tofu benefit from a longer marinade?
The inside of the blocks also looked the same, which disappointed me, until I took a bite.
The tofu hadnt taken on any color, but it was infused with salt and umami.
Are grilled vegetables better with an overnight marinade?
Even still, the two-hour eggplant had been fully penetrated by the olive oil.
The whole thing smelled magnificent.
On a low broil, they both browned wonderfully.
Once cooked, it was hard to tell the difference, even when I cut them open.
But the taste told the tale.
I far preferred the texture and mouthfeel of the two-hour marinade.
Can a longer marinade make boneless pork chops taste like… anything?
I checked the bags, I wasnt wrong.
The two-hour pork chop was saltier; it had more of that oyster sauce flavor.
I couldnt understand why, as I worked my way through them, trying to identify it.
Can an overnight marinade give chicken breasts a better texture?
Breasts are kinda flavorless, but thats precisely why I chose them.
In fact, most recipes that call for yogurt marinades suggest a shorter soak.
When I removed the breasts, they looked precisely the same.
The surprise was that I far preferred the 24-hour marinade.
It was more tender, less rough.
That said, on tofu, in particular, that longer exposure really yielded a far tastier result.
It would be worth it to test the limits of tofu marinadeis it even better after 36 hours?
How does it break down in cooking?
Its also worth noting that the ingredients in the marinade affect the outcome.
