Marination is the process of soaking food, mostly in acidic liquids, before cooking. Whatever you are cooking, experts say the real flavour of a recipe lies in the marination. So whether you are cooking fish, meat, vegetables or paneer, if the marinade is right the rest becomes very easy, and the food will taste excellent.

Tasty cooking calls for various kinds of marination, so it is important to know the basics. Here is how to marinate, and which mistakes to avoid while doing it.

There are generally two kinds of marination: wet and dry. In dry marination no liquid can be used. Only dry spices, even powdered ginger and garlic, should be used. Dry marination is usually done for roast chicken or barbecue.

In wet marination, spices are mixed with yoghurt, lemon juice, vinegar and the like. Make sure the ingredients are fully immersed in the marinade.

Don't marinate straight out of the fridge. Wait until the fish, meat or vegetables reach room temperature. Always drain the water from meat or fish well before marinating. Marinate by hand, not with a spoon, as the spices will not mix evenly otherwise.

When marinating meat, score it with a sharp knife so the spices get inside during marination and before cooking. This makes the meat very tasty. After rubbing the spices onto fish, meat or vegetables, cover and leave for at least 30 minutes. If you can leave it longer, keep it in the fridge, but bring it back to room temperature before cooking.

For kebabs or tandoori, marinate meat for at least an hour. Use as little salt as possible in the marinade, especially for meat. Too much salt draws water out of the meat and dries it out.

Source: Banglanews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.