Vacuum sealing brines and marinades.

[Big Al]

I was talking with a friend today that says that instead of just letting his fish (or meat) sit in the fridge overnight in his marinades or brines, he vacuum seals the fish in with the marinade. He claims that vacuum sealing sucks the marinade into the very fibers of the fish and gives you a noticably better flavor with less than half the marinade. I'm just curious if anyone has ever tried this and if you have, how did it work? Big Al

[Salmonsmoker]

BigAl,

I found a news release about this process on the Internet. Will try to attach it to this posting (have never done that before.) If unsuccessful I will post some of it this evening.

ss

[Salmonsmoker]

I tried to attach this to a post this morning, however, it did not work.

This is from the PRNewswire dated Feb 20 from Novato, Calif.

"Instant Marinater does in 5 minutes what normally takes 3 to 4 hours."

The news release states that "the Marinater opens up the pores and fibers of the food, by means of a vacuum, giving an immediate and deep marinate.....This vacuum process both marinates and tenderizes your food in the tme it would normally take to fire up the bareque.....To use the "Instant Marinater," place your food in the container, add the marinade and then simply pump the air out. This crates a vacuum which opens up the pores and fibers of the food allowing the marinade to soak in quickly and tenderize the food.....Marinating is an important way of adding delicious flavors to the food and it also, importantly, protects the food from the heat of the barbeque, grill, oven or pan, keeping it moist, tender and juicy."

This "Instant Marinater" is available fro Kohl's Department store, and at Cooking.com and retails for $24.95.

I have never used this product - but the theory sounds like it might be worth investigating.

If any of you try it, let me know how it works.

ss

[Salmonsmoker]

Making current

[Hunter333]

I do not have a vacum sealer, just good old Ziplocks. I have found that when I marinate meat in the bag with the air sucked out and freeze it, it comes out better than just sitting it in the fridge. I put Teriaky in w/chicken and goose. I like to slice my jerkey meat, put it in a bag with whatever marinade I make, then freeze it till I am ready to smoke or dry it.

[Salmonsmoker]

Hunter,

After reading and viewing the info that came with my vacuum sealer, the amin advantage to the vacuum is time. Under a vacuum, the meat pours open up and the marinade is absorbed in minutes instead of hours ... similar to cooking in a pressure cooker - just makes it go faster.

Sounds like your system works well. The freezing - particularly with a marinade (which causes it to freeze more slowly) - causes large ice crystals to form, thus opening up the meat for more absorption upon thawing.

[YPSIFLY]

I tried this the other night and was pleased with the results.

I'm a cook at a pub in Ann Arbor. A few weeks ago the owner bought a real nice vacuum sealer for prep items.

I put a chicken breast in with some hickory smoke flavor and a little cajun spice mix. I let it sit for most of my shift and then grilled it. That was some tasty chicken!

I have frozen fish that was caked with a mix of mostly mayonaise and onion. Again, good stuff.

[Salmonsmoker]

Ypsifly,

It sounds like you are in an ideal place to try different marinade's. Let us know how some of them work.

About the fish, covered with Mayo and onion. Sounds almost like marinading them in a tarter sauce. Did you use any other liquid?

[YPSIFLY]

I don't remember what else was in the mix, but it wasn't tangy.

[hangoo]

i use the foodsaver for all marinating...i put the meat and marinade in the foodsaver canister and marinade it for about 30 min for jerky...i made another batch with same recipe and put that batch in the fridge for over night and the foodsaver ahad much more flavor!!!!!!

go figure!!