Give me your secret marinade .

K

Kevin the grey

Joined
Aug 26, 2005
Messages
4,106
I know , I know if you give it to me it won,t be secret . Actually what I want to do is tenderise some Buffalo ribs . While delicious it is a mild tasting meat with a wonderful texture . I am concerned that my usual marinades will overpower the meats flavour .

The meat is actually quite tender . It is a membrane that is over the ribs that is the tough chew . On most ribs this membrane is easily removed or is so thin as not to cause a problem . Buffalo are more robust in nature and their ribs reflect this .
 
I never allow liquids to touch meat. My bit of cajun wisdom is to rub the seasonings into the meat with bare hands and allow to absorb. I've never dealt with buffalo.

In the Boy Scouts we used to make a marinade this way.
1 bottle of Italian salad dressing
1 bottle of beer
1 lemon

Seemed pretty good back then.
 
A can of Coke...it'll start to digest meat all on it's own.
 
Mojo Criollo ;)

1SCM%20(43).jpg


Sarge

edited to add: Whiskey steak is good too, down here in Texas the favored method is a sauce incorporating Jack Daniel's Whiskey and pecans, hoooweee, that there's some good eatin'
 
Slow cook those puppies on a Weber. I prefer dry rubs to marinades myself. Brown sugar, a pinch of sea salt, and pretty much whatever herbs and spices you find appealing. I don't think there's any way to mess something like that up. You might want to boil the ribs first and then bbq them. Some folks do this with beef ribs.
 
No secrets here -- if you're looking to tenderize the meat with your marinade, include an acid to aid in breaking down the fibers. You'll notice that most marinades include one, although the person making the marinade may not understand exactly why this ingrediant is included. If you're simply looking to get flavor "into" the meat, you can probably get away with a rub. I prefer a marinade with a high salt content for this; I can't prove it, but I suspect that the salt leeches water from the meat, which is in turn replaced with flavoring.

I'm with Sarge on the inclusion of Jack Daniels (or most bourbons) in a marinade. It's not completely necessary but if you're in a Spinal Tap sort of mood and want an amp that goes to 11, this is one way to do it.
 
Can't you remove the membrane? For Pork back ribs I like brine + dry rub overnight + 40 mins slowish grill + sauce for 5-10 mins.

Brine it for an hour or several. Use a half cup or so each of salt and sugar in a quart of water. Perhaps more, and add ice cubes to keep things a little safer. The brining process helps shove some moisture into the meat.

Then cook slowly at a low temperature. Grill indirect perhaps? Shoot for, oh, 250 - 300 degrees F? Something about this helps covert the connective tissure to mush. Finish at a high temperature to make a nice crust.

This is perhaps blasphemous, but if you've got a severe problem with toughness, tuck it into a crock-style cooker on low for perhaps 6+ hours before grilling. Those things turn cheap tough meat into tender stuff. I had some ribs at some horrible chain place that I suspect was done that way. They were so tender it was more like meat loaf than ribs. I didn't particularly like them. Kind of a dog food texture, but I gotta admit it was tender.
 
Fallingknife I am a crockpot fanatic . In fact the last time I cooked the buff ribs they were marinaded right in the crock overnight and cooked on low . You would think this would have loosened the membrane but no go . Even with the meat fairly soft the membrane was quite integral to the meat . I put then on the B:B:Q just to brown the outside as you also suggested . Don,t get me wrong . The ribs were good . You still almost had to separate the meat from the membrane with your teeth .

Hey maybe I,ll ask a butcher .
 
I didn't know buffalo was mild tasting. Sounds good.

If I pick up that bottle of Mojo from Sarge, can I have some? I'll bring Sarge too. It's his bottle.
 
Steve if I had a big enough place we could all have some . The only thing I could do is bring us all out to the archery range and make a day of it .

Buffalo that only eats grass or hay is incredibly good . I have made a chili with the shank that was ourstanding . Burgers need barely be cooked with no condiments or only a minimum if its lean .A slice of your favourite tomato and a leaf or two of boston or iceberg .

It is crucial the burger be fresh . No more than a day to two at the most . This is the date made in the store not the day you bring it home .

I keep it as au naturel as my finicky city bred taste buds will allow .
 
Pick up the edge of the membrane with a small knife and tear it back with a pair of pliers. Also look in the spice aisle for 'meat tenderiser'. It is a white powder based on papain. Kiwi Fruit and Pineapple both have enzymes which tenderise meat.
 
Dry rub's best on choice cuts of meat, but a good marinade can make the cheap cuts fork tender and juicy. I like to take cheap steak (top round, etc.) and marinade it well, cut it into large cubes, and put it on skewers, alternating with hunks of onion, tomato, bell pepper, and the like. Aargh mateys, them be some tasty kabobs. 'Course back in Belgium, in my ground launched cruise missle days, we called 'em brochettes and washed 'em down with huge tankards of "jungle juice" mixed up in a trash can. Ha Har, bunch of greasy chinned drunks, grinnin' like monkeys, and dancin' to Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA". Didn't matter that the terrs (yes kids, there were terrorists even way back then, but these were mostly French and German who didn't like us or our nukes) kept poisoning our water supply, or cutting through the wire to plant satchel charges, or maybe it was because of them that we occasionally blew off steam on an epic scale. Humpin' ground based nukes in the forests of Europe had a bit of stress associated. ;)

Sarge

p.s.: buffalo meat, now that's some good eatin', ain't had none since I was last in Colorado
 
Josh Feltman said:
Gotta slide some whole cloves of garlic on those kabobs.
Click to expand...

Works for me, I love garlic, 'course Mojo Criollo already has a boatload of garlic in it, may be why I like it so much. :D

Sarge
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top