Marinade	Rub	Mop Sauce	BBQ Sauce
What Is It?	Liquid mix of fat (such as oil) and acid (such as vinegar)	Powder or paste of herbs, spices, and other ingredients	Thin liquid with ingredients like tomato juice or beer	Usually thicker, often sweet sauce
What Does It Do?	Flavors and slightly tenderizes	Forms crust that flavors each bite	Adds moistureduring low-heat slow cooking	Adds flavor and caramelized coating
How Is It Used?	Soak foods 30 minutes to 2 hours before cooking	Pat on foods 15 to 20 minutes before cooking	Baste foods during cooking	Brush on during last 5 to 15 minutes of cooking
Best with:	Leaner or blander foods, such as chicken breast, pork chops, vegetables	Fattier meats, such as pork ribs, pork loin, lamb chops, salmon, skin-on chicken	Tougher, long-cooking cuts, such as ribs, pork butt, and brisket	Almost anything, especially chicken, ribs, and shrimp
Example:	Grilled marinated chicken breasts	Barbecued ribs (also has barbecue sauce)	Carolina pulled pork	Barbecued ribs (also has a rub)

Source: Elizabeth Karmel’s Soaked, Slathered, and Seasoned: A Complete Guide to Flavoring Food for the Grill

More flavoring ideas:

• An herb butter is great on top of steak or fish.
• Pork and chicken are delicious with a fresh salsa or relish.
• Pestos, chimichurris and tapanades are a fantastic garnish for almost any grilled ingredient.
• Dipping sauces are served at the table for diners to customize their own flavors.

Marinades

Marinades are flavor-infusing liquids best suited for tougher cuts of meat. In addition to herbs, condiments, spices and oils, marinades typically include an acid, like lemon juice, wine, vinegar and even dairy.
Adding sweet ingredients to the marinade can help form appealing caramelized, crispy coatings on grilled meats.
Yogurt and buttermilk, common ingredients in marinades, contain both the fat and the acid as one ingredient. Marinades generally only penetrate the outer quarter-inch of the foods you’ll be grilling, but since you get some of the surface with each bite, this is enough.

How to Use It

Thirty minutes to two hours before cooking (any earlier and food could get mushy), soak food in a nonreactive (i.e. glass, plastic or stainless-steel, not aluminum) container in the refrigerator. Resealable plastic bags also work well. Drain before cooking.

How Long Does It Keep?

The fresher the better and flavors will be brighter if you use a marinade immediately. However, in a pinch most marinades can be refrigerated up to two days.
Don’t put used marinade on cooked food—it could be contaminated with microbes from the raw meat. If you want to reuse a marinade, you must boil it for three minutes.
A variation on a marinade is a brine. Rather than combining fat and acid, this is simply a salty liquid. Food soaked in a brine absorbs the liquid and the salt, adding moisture and flavor.

Simple Olive Oil Garlic Marinade

Makes about 1 cup / Use with chicken, shrimp or vegetables.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic
• Juice and finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
• 1 tablespoon grainy Dijon mustard 
• 2/3 cup fruity extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Stir all the ingredients together.

Steak Marinade

Great for flank steak or London broil.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons chopped basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons parsley leaves
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic

Directions

Place the soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, basil, parsley, pepper hot sauce and garlic in a blender. Blend on high-speed for 30 seconds until thoroughly mixed.

Pour marinade over steak. Cover, and refrigerate for up to 8 hours. Cook meat as desired.

Italian Herb Marinade

Use for chicken, vegetables and fish

Ingredients

• 1 cup firmly packed fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, trimmed of thick stems
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves (or 2 teaspoons dried oregano)
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

Finely chop the parsley, fresh oregano, basil and garlic and place in a small bowl. Stir in the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, lemon juice and red pepper flakes. Use immediately or refrigerate. If chilled, return to room temperature before using. You can store this marinade in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Marinade for Grilled Vegetables

Good for eggplant, squash and peppers

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 teaspoon grainy mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together vinegar, honey, mustard, salt and the pepper. While whisking, add oil in a thin stream. Stir garlic into marinade. Pour into a ziplock bag and add cut up vegetables. Grill according to taste.

Rubs

Rubs are seasoning mixtures rubbed on meats before grilling to add spicy or smoky flavors.The ingredients slightly penetrate the meat and also form a crust that flavors each bite. Rubs are great on fattier meats that can benefit from a crisp, toasty crust, such as pork ribs, pork loin, lamb chops, salmon and skin-on chicken. They’re popular in classic American barbecuing, where they’re used on slow-cooked items like ribs, often in conjunction with a mop or sauce.

The best rubs enhance the flavor of the meat without being overbearing and are often blends of strong and mild spices and herbs. When oil or another wet substance is included, it is called a wet rub. A little moisture helps the rub adhere to the meat.

How to Use It

The word “rub” is actually a misnomer: About 15 to 20 minutes before cooking, sprinkle then gently pat the rub onto the surface of the food. If you want the flavor to sink in deeper, you can season foods the night before. If you put your rub on the night before, don’t include salt: The salt would draw out the juices and leave the meat dry. Instead, sprinkle the meat with salt just before cooking.

How Long Does It Keep?

Rubs are a great make-ahead option: Most rub mixtures keep for several months in an airtight container at room temperature.

Coffee Rub for Steak

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons espresso ground coffee
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

In a small bowl, combine espresso, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, the sugar, paprika and pepper. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the rub over one side of a 1 ½ lb steak and press in with your hands.Turn steak over and repeat with another 1 tablespoon of the rub. Let steak rest at room temperature for one hour and grill according to taste.

Don’t throw away leftover rub. It can be mixed into meatloaf, rubbed onto chicken thighs or sprinkled over salmon before cooking.

Wet Rub for Chicken

Makes enough for 5-6 boneless chicken breast halves

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons grated fresh lemon peel 
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

Whisk lemon juice and olive oil into remaining rub and brush on both sides of the chicken breasts

In a small bowl, combine lemon peel, garlic, coriander, salt, cumin, black pepper and cayenne. Sprinkle on both sides of the chicken. Grill chicken about 12 minutes, turning halfway through the cooking time.

All-Purpose Meat Rub

Especially good on pork.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons mustard powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the sugar, salt, paprika, mustard, pepper, oregano and thyme.

To use: coat meat entirely in mixture and then grill as desired.

BBQ Dry Rub

Good on ribs, pork chops and salmon

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together all the ingredients until well combined. Rub on ribs 10 minutes prior to grilling. Store any leftover rub in a sealed container.

 

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Posted by Jovina Coughlin in Beef, Chicken, Coffee, Fish, Grilling, Healthy Italian Cooking, Herbs, Honey, Lamb, lemon, marinades, Olive Oil, Pork, Vegetables Tags: Marinades, rubs