Rub-a-dub-dub

September 5, 2004 2:31 PM

Rub-a-dub-dub: any unique ideas for herb/spice/marinate combos?
(Bird, beast, or fish, it could be any dish.)
posted by Smart Dalek to Food & Drink (20 answers total)

FalconRed's spicy chicken:

Cover chicken breast with mix of:

- Olive Oil
- Soy Sauce
- Teriyaki Sauce
- Shriracha
- Red chilli pepper flakes

Chop up chicken, place in pan, cook. Serve with rice or alone.

No, there are no measurements, just use plenty of each.
posted by falconred at 3:36 PM on September 5, 2004

Here are some ideas from a friend of MeFi (plus other recipes at her blog)
posted by caitlinb at 3:40 PM on September 5, 2004

When making a roast beef: Make a paste out of instant coffee crystals and just enough wtaer to make it the consistency of mud.
Apply it to the outside of the roast and then into the oven.
The result is yummy and doesn't taste at all like coffee.
posted by Fupped Duck at 4:04 PM on September 5, 2004

Sriracha, soy, rice wine vinegar, spicy mustard, and a *dash* of ground clove to chicken or tofu. Sounds weird. Tastes great. Easy on the mustard, though.
posted by oflinkey at 4:17 PM on September 5, 2004

I like to marinate salmon in a mixture of soy sauce, mirin, chopped ginger, and sesame oil. Then I steam it. The nice thing about this is that the fish still tastes like salmon - the marinade adds something of its own without drowning out the flavor.
posted by vorfeed at 4:27 PM on September 5, 2004

Response by poster: You're all an invalueable help - special thanks to kamylyon, via caitlinb!
Falconred, oflinkey, and vorfeed - I'd forgotten about Thai flourishes.
I'll have to try your dishes with Larb Gai and Oshinko.
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:41 PM on September 5, 2004

buy a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.

puree the entire contents of the can.

marinate some pork in the resulting skin-and-mucous-membrane-burning liquid (but not for too long, or you will suffer the next day)

remove most of the chipotle from the meat before grilling/broiling.

also, I have personally tried this achewood bbq recipe (scroll down) and found it extremely tasty. (we also tried the neapolitan shooters and, while entertaining, they were not amazingly good) -- actually just the idea of adding cloves when partially pre-cooking bbq meat is sheer brilliance.
posted by dorian at 4:45 PM on September 5, 2004

Jimbob's bloody fantastic thai chicken: Bash up a grated stick of lemongrass, the juice of a lime, one clove of garlic, coriander, grated palm sugar, and fish oil in a mortar (or is it the pestle?). Marinate the chicken in this for one hour, and fry on high heat with some peppers.
posted by Jimbob at 6:43 PM on September 5, 2004 [2 favorites]

Jimbob, in the mortar, with the pestle.

This marinade (and method of preparation) is very good.
posted by kenko at 7:09 PM on September 5, 2004

Broiled portobello mushrooms, marinated thusly.
posted by Melinika at 7:58 PM on September 5, 2004

Geekhorde's Catfish recipe:

Take a liberal dash of Cavenders Greek seasoning, some oregano, an egg, some white zinfandel wine, and a tablespoon of salsa, and marinade your catfish filets in that overnight. Then bake or lightly pan fry the catfish in a little olive oil. Very tasty. Don't flower it though. It's kind of too subtle a taste for that.
posted by geekhorde at 11:02 PM on September 5, 2004

My meat eating relatives went gaga over a chicken dish one of my cousins cooked up for our recent reunion. Upon inquiry, I discovered that her marinade included:

- the juice and zest of one whole lime
- 1/2 inch fresh ginger
- two scallions
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil

She whizzed those up in a food processor, then added her secret ingredient: ginger ale, in sufficient quantities to create enough liquid to deal with the amount of meat she had.

Sounds a little nuts to me, but I'm a vegetarian. I intend to try it with tofu one of these days, though.
posted by Dreama at 11:04 PM on September 5, 2004 [3 favorites]

Sorry. Don't flour it. That's what I meant.

But you should never flower your catfish either.
posted by geekhorde at 11:05 PM on September 5, 2004

Ack, I neglected to list a healthy dose of red pepper flakes, to taste, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt which need to be in the mix.
posted by Dreama at 11:05 PM on September 5, 2004

Re, the chipotle peppers - if they're too hot on their own, puree the can of peppers with olive oil, soy sauce, honey (1/2 cup each), a bit of sugar and pepper and lemon or lime juice. Just throw it all in the blender and buzz it until it emulsifies, and it won't separate later. You'll get a lot of marinade (enough for about 6 chicken breasts).

The other thing that I've found works really well with marinades if you want to store them is freeze the meat and marinade in a freezer bag. The freezing breaks down the cells a bit and lets the marinade *really* get in there (and thawing it slowly only enhances that). Plus, you get to have marinaded whatnot later without having to make more marinade. Besides, it's just as easy to make marinade for three meals as one. Marinade goes farther that way, too.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 11:38 PM on September 5, 2004

I second putting the marinaded meat back into the freezer. I had some free time one day and I made about 10 different marinades up and then froze them with the chicken in them until I was ready for them and that worked out really well for me. Plus it was awfully quick to just thaw in the microwave and then cook, I've even done that on my lunch hour!

I learned not to marinade stuff in pure soy sauce. Maybe that's and obvious thing to everyone else, but it wasn't to me. Now I love salt and all, but I could barely eat that chicken!

One of the chicken marinades I made was Ortega taco sauce, red pepper flakes, and a little lemon juice and it was fantastic.

Another good one was when I got a packet of cheap store brand sweet and sour marinade. I followed the directions but then added some extra teriyaki sauce, some pineapple juice (and chunks), some ginger, and maybe a little extra soy sauce and that was seriously better than any restaurant sweet and sour chicken that I'd ever had.

I'm totally addicted to making up my own marinades now, and doctoring up store bought ones!
posted by mabelcolby at 1:55 AM on September 6, 2004

I cheat, and doctor store bought ones as well.
posted by Quartermass at 7:08 AM on September 6, 2004

If you have a good piece of beef, you should really not use anything more than salt and pepper. Use good sea salt and fresh coarsely ground black pepper. Cook it in a cast iron pan. When the steak reaches its desired doneness, remove it and pour heavy cream and vermouth in the pan (just enough to cover the bottom with a thin layer). You can add more salt and pepper to the mix. Bring it to a boil and then drizzle it over the beef. I think this sauce is called au poivre (sp?) and it's tasty.
posted by vito90 at 9:49 AM on September 6, 2004

I love making up marinades and doctoring sauces to make easy meals. Here's some favorites around the house:

Salmon, orange juice, some ginger. Give it a couple of hours and then bake it.

Ribs, lemon zest, bbq sauce, honey. Clean it off before you give it the heat, or the bbq will burn.

Chicken, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic.

Chicken, garlic, rosemary, saltwater, mint. Squish some garlic/rosemary into the chicken and bake it.

Chicken, hickory salt, cayanne, paprika, ground sage. Rub. Bake.

Flank steak, soy sauce, Worsterchichershoshershishershirewotsit, water, ground pepper.

Chicken, milk, cumin, five spice, salt, pepper, paprika. Soak a few hours. Flour. Fry.

Big ass tomatoes chopped into meaty slabs, basil, balsamic, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes. Let em stand 20 minutes or so. Sautee the tomatoes and throw them on some noodles.
posted by majick at 10:05 AM on September 6, 2004 [1 favorite]

whole ripe figs, olive oil, salt, wooden skewers. grill.

[this is fun]

dipsomaniac -- good call, on the chipotle as well as the freezing.

I am totally of the school that a good piece of beef needs only salt, pepper, and possibly the byproduct of deglazing (sometimes with mushrooms!)
posted by dorian at 10:13 AM on September 6, 2004