Choosing the proper marinade can make or break your dining experience. If selected properly, a tomato marinade may provide your dinner guests with an experience that defies worldly description; however, a tomato marinade selected in haste might tarnish an otherwise enjoyable bout of consumption. The way to choose the best marinade is to take into consideration all aspects of the meal. Thinking about who you are making the dish for, what type of food is being marinaded, and which flavor variations you wish to incorporate into your dish are all great ways to ensure success.
A marinade describes the action of allowing foodstuffs to come in contact with herbs, seasonings, and other ingredient combinations in order to merge the involved parties. This usually takes place over time, ranging from minutes to days. The longer you allow a tomato marinade to set, the more strongly flavored the dish will be.
Taking into account the dinner guest is an imperative step in crafting the appropriate flavors, and thinking about the type of meal you wish to prepare and preferences of each guest may help ease this burdensome decision. Possible variations are in thickness, power of flavor, and marinade to food volume ratio. If you want a thicker tomato marinade, for example, using larger tomato pieces may help attain this consistency. You can get a more powerful flavor by using more marinade, allowing it to set for a longer period of time, or selecting ingredients more akin to the senses. The food volume ratio is self-explanatory as the more you add, the more will remain after the cooking process.
The kind of food you are preparing is also an important aspect of choosing a tomato marinade. Some foods may not absorb flavors well, which means you should use a stronger and longer-sitting marinade. Other foods may be more sensitive to acquiring flavor, in which case you can alter the tomato marinade to achieve the right flavor strength.
Flavor variations are the last and most variable aspect of choosing a tomato marinade. For these, it is recommended that the inexperienced follow a recipe directly; however, as you progress in the culinary arts, it is important to learn how to improvise. This means trying out your own recipes and techniques and learning how to make necessary changes through trial and error, as well as taste testing, in order to acquire that desired flavor.
