Can a marinade be too long?

chuckls

Is it possible to marinade too long? [p]I cooked up a batch of Jim's Jack sauce, and set 11 pounds of short ribs in the sauce for marinade last night. I planned to cook the ribs tonight, but something came up and I can't cook them till tomorrow night. [p]Does the meat just keep getting better in the marinade? Or, after a point, does it start to degrade?[p]tia, chuckls
[ul][li]Jims Jack sauce[/ul]

RhumAndJerk

chuckls,
The meat should be fine if you cook it tomorrow night. Some recipes actually get better with a two-day marinade, like jerk pork or some Mexican Pork dishes,[p]Hope this helps,
RhumAndJerk[p]

BlueSmoke

chuckls,[p]I'll defer to Jim on this one, but in my experience you get to a point where you taste the marinade instead of the meat. (Chicken and fish are especially suceptible to this.) You're talking about beef and 48 hours. In your shoes, I'd cook them tonight (if possible) or tomorrow (if not).[p]Ken

Poncho

chuckls,
Yes, food can be marinated too long. Over time, the marinade begins to "cook" the food. This is especially true with fish and acidic marinades. Red meats can certainly be marinated over several days, although in most cases overnight is sufficient. For fish, less than an hour in most cases.

JSlot

I have only used my sauce as a finisher, not as a marinade, Chuck. I'm really interested in hearing how the ribs turn out. One word of caution, though. The sauce has a fair amount of sugar in it. That means it will scorch very easily. I think you are going to have to keep the heat down pretty low to avoid scorching and even then it will be a challenge. Good luck and keep us posted.[p]Jim

chuckls

JSlot,[p]Well, I didn't have a bottle of Jack on hand when I made the sauce, and looking at Elder Ward's brisket recipe, I saw that he included pineapple juice. [p]So I put in 1/2 cup of pineapple juice instead of the Jack, because I've heard that the enzymes in the pineapple juice help break down connective tissue. Which is what a marinade should do.[p]Sounds like I need to recognize the difference between a "marinade" and a "finisher". I'm new to the whole BBQ cooking arena - there's so much to learn! [p]I'll post Friday night or Saturday how the ribs turned out - maybe even some pics.

Eric

chuckls,[p]depends on the meat and the type of marinade.[p]Marinade has two seperate functions, to flavor and to tenderize. [p]Obviously, the flavor is dictated by the type of ingredients you use and is a function of the "blend" of tastes you create, essentially the flavor is transfered from the spices on to the meat. You can marinade w/ water and spices and some of the flavor will "attach" to the meat w/o tenderizing the meat (unless the seasonings have the ability to tenderize on their own).[p]Tenderizing comes from a chemical break down of the connective tissue of the meat. The chemical composition of the marinade and the meat will dictate how fast and to what extent the conective tissue will break down. You can run the risk of over marinating the meat in which case the meat becomes "mushy". It truly depends ont he kind of meat you have and how tender the meat is to start with.[p]Things like acidics, oils and fresh pineapple juice (not pasturized stuff from a can) all have qualities that break down the connective tissue. [p]Smoking is also a great way to break down the tissue- low and slow = tender. This is why a pork butt or brisket (tought cuts of meat) become so wonderful after an all night long cook at temps of 200-250.[p]beating w/ a tenderizing hammer also breaks down the connective tisse - through brute force and ignorance.[p]All methods have their place and it depends pon what you are going for.