Basic Marinades for grilling

This is a continual post in progress, I will add new marinades as I assemble, find or come up with new ones. Thanks for your patience. If you were brought here by a link from any of the C4 blogs, the recipe is below, I promise!


Put these marinades together in a zip-lock bag and throw in your meat of choice.
Then let it sit in the fridge at least a day in advance, sometimes two before grilling.

Basic Marinade #1:
Steak/Basic red meat
1 Cup Dale's Steak Seasoning            
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
3 T Worchestire Sauce
3 T Soy Sauce
2 T McCormick Grill mates Montreal Steak                        
1 tsp of Creole Seasoning                              
1/2  tsp. of  Garlic Powder

Works great for beef, venison and elk.
                 
Basic Marinade #2:
Orange Spicy
1 can (15oz or smaller) pineapple chunks with juice
1 medium to large green/bell pepper diced
1 small to medium onion diced
1-2 Cups orange juice
1 Cup brown sugar
1 T Soy Sauce
1 T Sesame Oil
1 T vinegar
1 T minced garlic (or clove of garlic diced)
1 T to 1 tsp. red chili flakes (to taste)

This marinade is great with pork, shrimp and chicken and can be "cooked down" for sauce if you feel like quick Chinese spicy orange instead of working the grill. Also great for grilled chicken "foil packets" (Oh so yummy!).


Basic Marinade #3:

Mole & Balsamic Marinade
2   T   red chile powder
2   T   unsweetened cocoa powder
2   T   toasted sesame seeds
1   T   chipotle powder
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1    tsp. brown sugar
2    cloves garlic minced (or 2 T minced garlic)
1 to 1/2 C. balsamic vinegar salad dressing (or 1/4 C. Balsamic Vinegar)
1/2 to 3/4 C tomato juice or V8 (according to whether you use the salad dressing vs vinegar)

The low down on Molasses (or weird stuff I wondered about)

I've always wondered what the differences are between fancy, cooking, unsulphured and blackstrap molasses. So, I went and looked it up. 

This is what I found:

The word "Molasses" is used to cover a variety of products in the sugar industry:  

Fancy Molasses - is a direct product of sugar cane and is in no way a by-product of any sugar manufacturing process. It is also known as Gold Star when used in baking. The results are a light colored, sweet product, also good as a topping on bread, biscuits, and crackers. Fancy Molasses is an excellent source of iron, calcium, and vitamin B and serves as a great energy food. 

 Lite Molasses - contains 40% less sugar than Fancy Molasses. Recipes made with Light Molasses have a subtle flavor, and are lighter in color. Cookies are slightly softer while breads are more crusty. Light molasses comes from the first boiling of the sugar.

Cooking Molasses - is a blend of Fancy and Blackstrap Molasses. The use of Cooking Molasses results in a darker, less sweet baked product (great for ginger snaps--YUM!). 

Unsulphured Molasses - has the best flavor and is made from sun-ripened cane which has grown 12-15 months. 

Blackstrap Molasses - The thick dark brown liquid obtained from the refining of sugar cane is commonly referred to as "Blackstrap Molasses". It is a direct by-product of the sugar making process and has a slightly bitter robust flavor. Two of its more common uses is in the production of industrial alcohol and feeding livestock.

What are Crudites?

Crudités (pronounced crew-dee-tay) are sliced or whole small vegetables that may make up a first course of a meal, or are more commonly found as appetizers in banquet style eating. They often are served with an appropriate dip—ranch dressing is a popular choice. Yep, that's right, it's a veggie platter. When you’re deciding what to serve on a vegetable plate, consider taste, texture, and appearance.

You’ll also need to decide if any of the vegetables you use for crudités should be blanched first. Blanching can help make certain vegetables more appealing and easier to eat. Consider blanching the following veggies for crudités:
Asparagus
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Summer squash or Zucchini
Green Beans

Most other vegetables don't require blanching, but the above are likely to taste a little better and are more digestible if they have been cooked slightly for minute or two. Cauliflower and Broccoli can be eaten without blanching and you don’t want to blanch vegetables like mushrooms, tomatoes, celery, radishes, baby corn, snap peas or carrots.

Simple crudités could be a plate of cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, leeks and mushrooms, it's as simple or elaborate as you care to make it.

What are Leeks?

Leeks are root vegetables that look quite similar to onions, to which they are related. They look like huge green onions/scallions. The leek's flavor is onion-like but much milder -- their flavor is mellow and not overpowering, and many onion haters love leeks.

Leeks don't form much of a bulb on the end of the root. To maximize the edible part of the leek, dirt is mounded up around the young plant; this keeps more of it underground and tender and white. It also means that dirt often gets between the layers, so leeks need careful cleaning before cooking.

Leeks are most commonly used in soup, most notably in vichyssoise, a delicious cold soup composed of potatoes and leeks. Leeks are also edible raw, and can impart a great crunchy flavor to salads or when eaten with a dip. Cut leeks in half lengthwise and rinse thoroughly to remove and dirt or grit, then add to a platter of crudites.

If you have a favorite potato soup recipe, try adding some sliced leeks next time you prepare it -- leeks, potatoes and carrots in a chicken broth makes an excellent soup.

What are Shallots?

Shallots are considered members of the onion family, but are smaller than onions and look more like garlic. Inside, shallots do not have concentric structures like onions, but are sectioned into cloves like garlic.

The white flesh of shallots can have either red or purple streaks similar to a red or purple onion. Shallots are strong, rich-tasting and reminiscent of both onions and garlic. They are also sometimes known as eschallots.

Some shallots have coppery brown skin, while others are pinkish or a greyish-brown. The French grey shallot is called a griselle and many French chefs prefer using grey shallots in their cuisine because of their strong and delicious flavor. Many of the shallots sold in the United States are imported from France.

Shallots are used in many of the same dishes where garlic and onions could be used, and do not cause as harsh of breath odors as either onions or garlic. Australians call green onions shallots, but shallots are not the same as green onions. Shallots are also not the same as pickling onions. Some varieties of shallots are more elongated than others, such as the banana shallot. Shallots tend to have a faster cooking time than onions, but they usually do not have as long of a storage life.

Wine and shallots are a popular cooking combination. Shallots can be sauteed or caramelized but, like garlic and onions, can have too much of a strong taste if they become too browned. Some people prefer to roast shallots while leaving the skins on and then peel and mash them before using. Shallots can be used in cream or butter sauces as well as gravies.

Substitutions

Shallots:
A substitute for a shallot might be a combination of onion and garlic, approximately 2/3 onion and 1/3 garlic. For example: For one shallot clove substitute 2/3 teaspoon very finely minced onion and 1/3 teaspoon very finely minced garlic.

Fresh Basil:
If you absolutely must substitute dried basil, use one-third of the fresh amount called for. If you are substituting fresh for dried basil, you'll need to triple the amount of dried called for in the recipe.

Orange Peel:
1 tb = 1 tb fresh