Barrister DEW's All Purpose Marinade

[Panhead John]

Dewesq55 You’re fixing to find out why I’m not married…..I’d slip it in there unannounced and see what she says. 😂

[Dewesq55]

Panhead John - I would SOOOO do that but Barbara really dislikes balsamic vinegar.

[Panhead John]

I will let you know! If you haven’t been, try using Balsamic Vinegar instead of white vinegar in the dressing. And yes, it is $(&)@;+/= good! And I just printed out your recipe.

[Dewesq55]

Panhead John - Cool. If you do, let me know what you think. BTW, Good Seasons Italian is "pretty f#@&in' good." I was just talking to Barbara today about how my brother and SIL use a double strength batch (2 envelopes of Good Seasons in one recipe worth of the liquid ingredients) as a dressing for cold pasta salad and how good it is.

[Panhead John]

That sounds really good. I’ve actually been wanting to try a new marinade. I’ve been using my old stand by, Good Seasons Italian Dressing, way too much. I’m gonna spatchcock and hang a chicken on my Bronco this weekend. Think I’m gonna try that.

[TripleB]

Dewesq55 Pork tenderloin we have not had in awhile. I'll try the marinade with that. Thanks.

[Dewesq55]

TripleB - Yeah, it's not a teriyaki flavor profile, at least to me. It is mostly savory with barely a hint of sweetness. I mostly use it with skinless, boneless chicken breast, which I hardly ever eat any more. But I will definitely use it on skirt steak or pork tenderloin.

[TripleB]

Very interesting ingredients. It was looking like my teriyaki sauce recipe until I got down to the cognac & liquid smoke. I'd like to give it a try. What do you use this marinade primarily on?

Thanks for posting.

[Dewesq55]

This is a marinade/brine that I have been using for at least 30 years and I finally got around to figuring out and writing down some useful quantities.

While it is obviously "Asian-inspired" based on the ingredients, it really is, as the title states, an "all propose" marinade. It is particularly good with skinless, boneless chicken (even white meat!), but will definitely work with beef (London broil, skirt steak, flank steak), pork tenderloin, shrimp or grilled veggies (brush some on while grilling.) Works well as a fajita marinade, too.

The recipe makes a decent amount. I currently have a large family pack of chicken tenders from Aldi's marinating in 1 recipe's worth. You could easily scale it up or down based on your needs.

Of course all of the amounts can be adjusted based on taste, although I would suggest keeping the basic proportions of soy sauce to rice vinegar relatively stable as the salt and acidity of the two balance each other out nicely.

I really like the flavor hit the cognac/brandy gives it, but you could easily leave it out and it will still taste good.

Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:

• ½ cup soy sauce (any type will work)
• ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
• 5 teaspoons sugar
• 2 large cloves garlic grated or pressed
• ¼ teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)
• ¼ cup cognac or brandy (optional, but strongly recommended)
• 2 teaspoons sambal olek (can substitute hot sauce of your choice)
• 1 tablespoon Asian-style Sesame oil

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk well to combine and dissolve the sugar.

Pour into a large zipper bag, reserving a small portion to brush on during cooking, if desired. Add protein or veggies to the bag and squish it around to thoroughly cover all in the marinade. Remove the air from the bag and seal. Refrigerate and marinate for at least an hour, up to overnight. Remove the food and discard the marinade. Cook by your desired method. Grilling is great with this, but other methods will work fine. I am planning to sous vide the chicken tenderloins mentioned above for Barbara to take for lunches at work.