Pay Attention To This Key Detail Before Adding Vinegar To Your Marinade

Marinating foods before grilling or roasting has a few benefits: It adds flavor to meat and vegetables, adds moisture to leaner cuts, helps to tenderize the meat so that tougher pieces will be juicier, and promotes browning and caramelization so that a nice crust and char forms on the surface. But there are important details to know when choosing the vinegar to use in your marinade. Tasting Table talked to Michael Lomonaco, chef at Porter House, to get tips on what kinds of vinegar to use, and how to use it to achieve the best results.

"Vinegars often have different acidity values or percentages of acidity, i.e., 5% vinegar is standard in white and cider varieties, and higher percentages are also produced, a detail you should pay attention to when using to avoid over-acidulating your dishes", says Lomonaco. Most wine and balsamic vinegars fall in the 6%-7% acidity range, and it's important to check the label since the acidity level is not often readily visible. A highly acidic vinegar can affect the texture negatively if left on the meat for too long.

Chef Lomonaco remarks, however, that there is a time and a place for high acidity vinegar. "When pickling vegetables or fruits, 5% vinegar is a must for proper and safe pickling," Lomonaco says. This will be different when making a marinade, and that's why marinades are not made with straight-up vinegar but rather diluted with other ingredients to mellow the acidity. Lomonaco explains, "All vinegar-based marinades may be diluted with fruit juices, wine, water, or other liquids to achieve the balance of flavor you prefer", says the chef. "A back of the envelope basic recipe I use for a marinade is the same as a basic vinaigrette: 3 parts oil and seasoning to 1 part vinegar."

It's important to know what the many different types of vinegar can do so that you pick the right one for your specific marinade or brine. Try this marinade to tenderize your steak, or give it a South American touch with a homemade chimichurri. And speaking of pickles, an ingredient that you should be adding to your marinades is pickle brine, which goes especially well in a fried chicken recipe. If you follow chef Lomonaco's advice, your marinades will do their job right every time.