MARINATING — COM- BINING an acidic ingre- dient such as vinegar, wine or fruit juice with oif, herbs and spices — should be considered the chef's secret weapon when it comes to barbecuing. Since marinades both tenderize and flavor meat, fish and poultry, you can often substitute less ex- pensive cuty and still serve up real 1asic. You can come up with an endless number of different fla- vored) marinades, depending on the combination of seasonings you use. While marinade recipes abound in cookbooks, it really isn’t hard to mix and match vour own. A good rule of thumb is to start with half a cup of an acidic in- uredient (white vinegar, dry red wine, lemon juice, pineapple juice, tomato juice or beer) and add the same amount (half a cup) of vegetable oil. HW you prefer your marinade a litte less tart, reduce the acidic ingredients to one-third cup and increase the oil to two- thirds cup. Your choice of setsonings is practically lunitless and can be combined to give the meat, poultry oor fish any ntunber of distinct, favors. For instance, dry mustard, soya sauce and nutmeg will impart an Oriental note while ketchup, cayenne and crushed red pepper will keep it hot and spicy. Keep the following tips in mind to ensure perfect results when you marinade. * Remember a marinade only tenderizes the part of the meat it can reach. Turn steaks or cubed meat at least once to expose both surfaces. Poke holes in’ a thick piece of meat with a long pronged fork so the marinade can penetrate. * Allow cnough time for the marinade to tenderize the muscle fibre; three to six hours for kebobs, overnight for steaks, at least 24 hours for roasts. *Always marinate in the refrigerator, not on the counter. Warm summer weather is perfect for promoting bacterial growth. Marinating on the counter is just not safe. ¢ Marinate in a container that is small and deep so the meat is campletely covered by the marinade. Or, pour the marinade into a leak-proof bag, add the photo submitted OFTEN MARINADES are the secret ingredient in barbecuing. By adding different herbs and spices you can change the flavor of the meat or vegetables you cook. meat and seal the top. The result is no mess and an casy-to-turn misture, * Marinades will keep for about two weeks in the refrigerator. Once a marinade has been used, any leftover should be discarded because of the raw meat juices in it. The following marinade recipes have been developed by the Me- Cormick Canada test kitchens. Use the All-Purpose Marinade as your base then turn it into one of the following great combinations by adding a few more ingredients and shaking well to mix. All-Purpose Marinade 45 cup vegetable oil Ys cup lemon juice V4 tsp. garlic powder 1 thsp. fresh ground pepper Combine all ingredients in jar with tight fitting lid. Shake well. Makes enough marnunide for 2 Ibs./4 ke meat. Teriyaki Marinude Psecipe All-Purpose Marinade ‘3s cup soya sauce Ttsp. groand ginger I tbsp. brown sugar Combine all ingredients in jar with tight fitting lid. Shake well. Makes enough to marinate 2 Ibs./1 ke meat, poultry or seafood. Oriental Marinade 1 recipe AN-Purpose Marinade with lemon juice decreased to 1 tbsp. 2 tsp. dry mustard 1 thsp. soya sauce 1 Isp. ground nutmeg Va cup orange juice Combine all ingredients in jar with tight fitting lid. Shake well, Makes enough marinade for 2 Ibs./1 kg meat, poultry or seafood. Hot & Spicy Marinade trecipe AN-Purpose Marinade Vz cup ketchup Tibsp. Worcestershire sauce 2 tsp. dry mustard 2 tsp. minced onion lisp. cayenne pepper 1 tsp. crushed red pepper Combine all ingredients in’ jar with tight fining lid. Shake well. Makes enough marinade for 2 Ibs./l kg meat, poultry or seafood. Lemeamacy Marinade 1 recipe All-Purpose = marisade omitting garlic powder 2 tsp. rosemary leaves 2 tsp. parsley flakes 2 tsp. grated lemon rind 2 bay leaves Litbsp. honey Combine all ingredients in jar with tight fitting lid. Shake well. Agar-agar is a good alternative ge Inquisitive Cook YOU DON’T often see tomato aspic served these days. One reason might be that it can’t take the heat of a blistering summer day. Yet Deborah Madison has solv- ed the problem in her new book The Savory Way, recently selected as the Cookbook of the Year. Her refreshing version of this old-time favorite sets tomato aspic with agar-agar instead of gelatin. And it tempts the tastebuds with its seasonings of lemon zest and herbes de Provence, and a layered topping of saffron-flavored sour cream. Who can resist? Most recipes for molded salads call for gelatin. which is extracted from collagen found in the bones, skin and connective tissue of animals. It’s readily available in powdered form, either unflavored or combined with flavoring and sugar. But the term = gelatin is also loosely applied to vegetable pro- ducts that do the same gelling task. The most common of these is agar-agar, a flavorless gum derived fram seaweed. Agar is simplest to use in faked form, and it’s easily located in health food stores. Agar is often the thickener of choice of vegetarians in place of gelatin from animal origins. Like gelatin, agar is usually softened in cold water and stands for five minutes without stirring until the flakes swell and soften. The next step is dissolving it in hot Higuid, so the thickener is evenly dispersed throughout the remaining ingredients. One tablespoon (15 mL) of unflavored gelatin sets two cups (500 m1) of liquid. Agar-agar has more setting power. Two teas- poons (10 mL) of agar flakes will gel two cups (500 mL) of liquid. Both agar and gelatin set sum- mer salads well. But as gelatin is a protein and agar a carbohydrate, there are sometimes good reasons for preferring one over the other in a recipe. One of the most important dif- ferences has to do with temperatures, because a molded salad melting to a puddle on a buffet table is quite unappetizing. As gelatin softens at 80°F (26°C), it’s easy to see why it melts on hot days. Agar softens at 176°F (80°C) so Makes cnough marinade for 2 \bs./} kg meat, poultry or seafood. Indonesian Marinade { recipe All-Purpose Marinade 3 (hsp. seva sauce 2 tbsp. honey 2 tsp. ground coriander Usp. ground ginger Combing all ingredients in jar with tight fitting lid. Shake well. Makes enough marinade for 2 Ibs./E ky meat, poultry or seafood. To marinate: Pour marinade in 9x 12-inch non-metallic dish. Add meat, poultry or fish. Cover. Turn several times while marinating. Always refrigerate food if marinating time is longer than one hour. Marinade juice can be used for basting. Discard any leftover marinade; do not reuse. agent it’s much more resistant to heat. It’s a good choice for molded summer salads that must stand before serving. Agar is also more resistant to breakdown by acids than gelatin. It therefore works well in an aspic base which is largely acidic tomato juice. You've likely heard the warning aboul using canned or cooked, rather than fresh, pineapple in salads molded with gelatin. Fresh pineapple and kiwi fruit both con- tain enzymes which break down the protein in gelatin, reducing the mold to a liquid. As agar is a carbohydrate, it isn't affected in the same way by these enzymes, so it's often called for in molded salads using these ingredients.