marinade to make meat easier

[colorwheel]

a lot of marinade recipes will warn you not to marinate meat more than hour or so, and definitely not overnight, if the marinade has ginger in it, or acidic ingredients. the reason is that the meat will get broken down and become mushy.

if you want/need to eat meat and have jaw pain, trouble swallowing, or whatever other mouth/throat/tooth stuff, i recommend going against their advice! i marinated stir-fry beef overnight in a marinade of tamari, honey, and grated* ginger and indeed it broke the meat down to an "improper" mushy texture. it was very easy to chew and swallow.

*i tried this same marinade with the ginger in large chunks and it didn't work. it only worked when i grated the ginger.

(i did the ratio of my three marinade ingredients by taste, so i can't report, but remember, you can improvise a marinade and keep tasting and adjusting it as long as you don't add the meat till it's finished.)

Comments

May or may not be helpful

[miss_s_b]

I have one of these: http://www.gingerandgarlicgrater.co.uk/ it is excellent for grating ginger (and garlic) and lots less effort than a standard box grater. You just rub the ginger around on it.

Re: May or may not be helpful

[colorwheel]

thanks!

[vilakins]

Pineapple juice also works well for breaking the meat down. :-) I've also marinated beef overnight with vinegar mixed with other ingredients like tomato juice, soy sauce, ginger, red wine, chili etc.

[colorwheel]

i would never have thought of pineapple juice, but that makes sense!