How Do I Choose the Best Chinese Marinade?

Choose the best Chinese marinade by thinking about the sort of flavors you want to infuse into your meat. It is hard to classify one marinade as being objectively better than another, because taste is personal, and the cook or those who will be eating the food might prefer one type of marinade over another. Generally speaking, a better Chinese marinade will include fresh vegetables or roots such as ginger and garlic as well as common Chinese flavorings and spices. To determine the best Chinese marinade for your needs, be sure to look over the ingredients in detail.

Marinades are used to infuse flavors into meat before it is cooked. This can help often-bland meats such as chicken take on a flavor, and it is an invaluable tactic when cooking meat for other people. Most marinades should be applied overnight if possible, and a Chinese marinade is no different. This gives the flavors time to soak into the meat and creates more vibrant flavors when the meat is cooked. The inclusion of fresh ingredients can help infuse more flavors into the meat.

Select a Chinese marinade that has some fresh ingredients in it. Common ingredients in Chinese cooking that can be easily found fresh include chili peppers, ginger and garlic, and if a marinade includes these ingredients when they are fresh, the flavor is more likely to be vibrant. Powdered ginger also is acceptable for some marinades, but fresh root ginger is preferable to most people in terms of taste. All other fruit and vegetables often used in Chinese food, such as mushrooms, bamboo shoots, onion and pineapple, should also be included fresh if possible.

There is a lot of variety when it comes to Chinese marinade, and it is possible for a cook to choose the best marinade by thinking about Chinese food that his or her diners like. For example, the dish might be being cooked for somebody who generally enjoys sweet and sour dishes or barbecue-style pork ribs. The best Chinese marinade in these situations is whichever one that the guests are most likely to enjoy.

Checking the ingredients is the best way to determine which Chinese marinade is most suitable for the guests at a certain event or meal. Many Chinese dishes include ingredients such as soy sauce, rice wine or sherry and sesame oil, so these are to be expected in a lot of marinades. Chinese five spice is a spice mixture that is often used in marinades, and it gives an authentic flavor that is enjoyed by many people. The use of sweet flavors such as sugar and honey is also common in Chinese marinades.