This is one of those rare cases where two people holding opposite views are both correct. Why, I suspect because his chefs don't come from a rich culinary background. However good they may be, you can't replace hundreds of years of cooking wisdom.
How? Well it comes down to cooking techniques and what we mean by marination. This is what his proof was: He marinated chicken breast for 18 hours. He noted that only 3mm of it was penetrated. He shaved off that thin layer and cooked the rest. In a blind taste test, people could not tell which chicken pieces were marinated and which ones were not. The reason for this, he said, is that the spices are fat soluble and can't penetrate chicken and pork. He didn't get into it, but it is also true that some molecules are too big to go through some tissue via osmosis.
Now, here's why I am right and my taste buds have been confirming what I do. I don't know what marination means to him, but my chicken wings are marinated in lemon juice, salt, garlic, and onion. I also add in some fresh finely diced green chili. All of these ingredients are water soluble and do in fact penetrate deep into the chicken. In fact he does have a small footnote mentioning garlic and onions as the exceptions :) Other water soluble items that I sometimes add are turmeric and ginger.
Furthermore, for something as thin as chicken wings, 3mm on each side is a substantial amount of the whole thing.
Additionally, when I marinate things that are thick (e.g. leg of lamb) and I use ingredients that I personally don't consider as "marinates" but want to add in their flavor, I mix in some olive oil and mustard to the mix, make incisions in the meat, and smother it inside and out before rolling it into a ball.
Obviously, the incisions and the cut and rolling increase the surface area and allow the meat to soak in the flavor deeper and in different places. So even if it is only 3mm, it will still be going in lots of places and deep. But what is not so obvious to many is that mustard is an emulsifier (a substance that aids suspension of solution between water and oil). The combination of mustard and olive oil helps the fat soluble spices go along with the water deeper into the incisions.
In short, I didn't grow up learning all this scientific explanation on how to make chicken wings or roast or corned beef. It was just how it was passed down to me. Nor did anyone in my family marinate chicken in what I'd consider unusual sauces and expect it to go in. I am beginning to think I did not waste much not reading that big book set...but it was a damn expensive set, so maybe I should read it. |
