Kitchen terms · International
Marinating
Steeping meat, fish or vegetables in a seasoned, usually acidic mixture before cooking.
At a glance
- Origin
- Fr. mariner (1552) from It. marinare, from Lat. aqua marina – sea water, brine (TLFi).
- Production
- Food is left to rest in a seasoned liquid, usually with oil, acid and spices.
- Use
- Game, beef for braising, poultry, fish, herring.
- Substitutes
- Brine: a preserving liquid for steeping food, for meat a salt solution; a marinade is usually acidic and spiced.
According to the SSJČ, marinovat means to prepare with a marinade, with marinated herring, eel and haunch of roe deer as examples. French mariner is recorded in Rabelais in 1552 and probably comes from Italian marinare, to steep fish or meat in salted oil with herbs and spices; its root is Latin aqua marina, sea water, which Apicius already used in the sense of brine.
Escoffier distinguished a raw marinade of oil, half as much vinegar and aromatic vegetables from a cooked one, whose main purpose he saw in preserving meat in warm weather. He was sceptical about marinating game: what the meat gains in tenderness it loses in flavour, and for young animals he considered a marinade unnecessary.