How to marinate lamb?

Lamb is tender, tasty and environmentally friendly meat.The latter is due to the fact that the process of growing rams of meat breeds does not involve the use of hormones, antibiotics and weight gain accelerators. The composition of meat is very rich in proteins, all the vitamins necessary for the human body and a large number of micro and macro elements. However, in order for the lamb meat dish to be soft and juicy, it is necessary to learn how to cook it correctly.

One of the most common methods of cooking lamb meat is its marinating. This procedure allows you to give the product a unique flavor of seasoning and makes meat fibers more juicy and soft. Marinating is not a prerequisite for cooking lamb, and whether to use it or not depends on the recipe and personal taste preferences of the cooker. However, there are a number of national dishes, in which marinating is indispensable. These dishes include kebab and smoked lamb.

Mandatory marinating due to the fact that the meat in both cases will be cooked on the coals without using water. Therefore, in order to prevent the rapid evaporation of natural moisture from meat fibers and their drying, the mutton is pre-saturated with plenty of tasty and flavorful marinade. For the same reason, it is recommended to marinate the lamb before baking. In this case, the meat is also prepared without the use of water, and there is always the risk of it being dried out.

The quality of lamb has a great influence on the final taste of the cooked dish, so the choice of meat should be given special attention. First of all, you should focus on its color. Thus, in a young, recently slaughtered sheep, the meat fibers have a bright red color, which, depending on the belonging to one or another part of the carcass, can vary from lighter to darker. But in any case, the pulp should be homogeneous, without brown inclusions and unpleasant repulsive smell. Fresh meat is usually characterized by a light, specific aroma, unique to lamb, and does not cause any unpleasant sensations.

The best option for cooking various dishes is fresh, non-frozen one-year-old ram meat. Such mutton exudes the aroma of fresh milk and is characterized by absolutely white fat. If the fat has already acquired a yellowish shade, then, most likely, the slaughtered animal was older than one year old, respectively, and the meat will be slightly tougher than that of the young one. Next, you need to check the lamb for freshness. To do this, press your finger on the flesh to form a shallow fossa. If the meat is really fresh and has never been frozen, the groove will quickly level out. In the case of repeated freezing, blood will appear at the indentation site, so this meat should not be purchased.

After the appearance of the slaughtered sheep has been evaluated, you need to decide on the part of the carcass that you need to buy. For different dishes this will be your option: for example, for cooking kebabs or lula kebab, you should purchase the back part of the carcass, better known as ham. If it is supposed to fry meat, then it is better to choose the loin on the bone, also known as the rib part. And, finally, for roasting on coals, it is recommended to buy the most delicate and tasty part of the carcass - the lumbar region, which is determined by the boundaries of the last rib bone and the sacrum. For lovers of offal suitable lamb language, which belongs to the delicatessen products and roasted on the coals.

If, however, fresh meat could not be obtained, and the acquired lamb has an unpleasant smell, then before proceeding with the marinating of the product, you need to get rid of the smell.In order to eliminate it, you should carefully rub the meat piece with dry mustard, wrap it in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge for 3 hours. After this time, the meat is removed from the refrigerator, washed under running water and soaked with a soft cloth. Well removes the smell soaking lamb in milk or beer. To do this, the meat pieces are placed in a deep container, the top is poured with one of these drinks and put in the refrigerator for several hours. Then the meat is removed, thoroughly washed and rubbed with chopped garlic.

Soaking the meat in a salty solution prepared at the rate of 2 tablespoons of salt per 1 liter of water also helps. Lamb is also placed in a saucepan and pour on the prepared solution for an hour. Instead of salt water, you can use yogurt. Only under such a "sauce" lamb should last two hours. For better neutralization of unpleasant odor, up to 100 g of chopped garlic is added to yogurt. And finally, the easiest way to get rid of the unpleasant smell is the method of removing all the fat that is in the meat.

After the unpleasant smell is finished, you can proceed directly to marinating. To correctly and quickly marinate lamb, it must be properly prepared. To do this, wipe the meat with napkins or paper towels, clean the tendons, and remove the film and excess fat. Then it is cut into large pieces in such a way that the cuts fall across the fibers. Next, the lamb is poured with cooked marinade and kept depending on the recipe and meat quality. Thus, 1–4 hours will be enough for the meat of a young lamb, while for the old lamb it will take from 8 to 12 hours. Spices for cooking marinade can be used any, but the use of rosemary, oregano, thyme, paprika and fresh garlic will most clearly emphasize the taste and aroma of lamb.

An important condition for proper marinating meat is the choice of dishes. Usually, the marinade contains ingredients that contain acid and are designed to prevent protein folding during heat treatment. And since it is the state of the protein that affects the softness of the meat, the use of acid to prepare the marinade is simply necessary. However, acid can cause the formation of harmful substances upon contact with aluminum cookware. Therefore, for marinating meat, you should use only enameled, ceramic or glass containers.

Another important condition for properly marinating lamb is the time to add salt. It is recommended to salt the marinade only 30 minutes before the end of pickling, and in no case before. If salt was added at the very beginning of cooking the marinade, then the kebab or any other dish will turn out dry. This is due to the ability of salt to draw a lot of liquid from the meat, and given the "dry" method of cooking many dishes, this is completely unacceptable.

In addition to acid-containing products, the marinade for lamb includes many different spices, so you should wear gloves to avoid the appearance of dark spots on the skin of your hands during the marinating process. Greens, used as seasonings, should be torn by hands, due to the fact that when cutting with a knife, many of the necessary oils oxidize when they come into contact with the metal and do not get the marinade.

Each type of meat requires the use of a special marinade.Often, recipes for marinating pork and beef are absolutely not suitable for lamb. Therefore, for its preparation it is recommended to use recipes suitable for this particular meat.

• Traditional marinade. For the preparation of this simple and popular composition will need 2 medium onions, a pound of lamb, one and a half cups of medium-carbonated water, two tablespoons of lemon juice, as well as some salt and spicy spices. First, cut the onion in half rings, then add lemon juice to it and mix well. Next, cut the meat into medium pieces, place in a deep pan and spread the onion and lemon mixture on top. Then add other spices, pour the meat with soda and leave for a period of 3 to 5 hours. Half an hour before the end of this time, the marinade is salted to taste, and after a full time of marinating, they take out the meat and send it to cooking.

• Marinade from kiwi. To prepare such a marinade, 0.5 kg of meat, two onions, one liter of highly carbonated mineral water and spices are required. Kiwi is taken at the rate of 1 pc. per 1 kg of meat. First, peel, cut onion half rings and put it in a saucepan. Then put meat on top, add spices, knead kiwi and put it on top. Next, pour mineral water in such a way that the meat is completely closed, and leave for three hours. Half an hour before the end of marinating pickle salt.

• Marinade on kefir. To marinate meat with kefir, you need 1 liter of this drink per 1 kg of meat, a bunch of fresh greens, salt and spicy spices. First, tear the greens into small pieces and add kefir to it, then put mutton in a cup, pour it into the resulting mass and leave for three hours. Salt the marinade should be 30 minutes before the meat is ready.

• Mustard marinade. For its preparation you will need 2 onions, a pound of mutton meat, 3 tablespoons of mustard, the same amount of cream, dry white wine, salt and spices, as well as 50 g of olive (vegetable) oil. First, they peel and cut onions into rings, then they begin to fry it in butter or vegetable oil, at which time 350 ml of white wine is poured. After the wine has evaporated by 1/3, cream with mustard is added to the pan, mixed well and pepper. Then the mixture is stewed on low heat for 5 minutes, cooled and poured into a saucepan filled with meat. After two hours, the meat will be fully prepared for cooking on coals or roasting in the oven.

• Marinade on soy sauce. For its preparation, you will need 100 ml of soy sauce, a pound of lamb, one quarter of chili pepper, two cloves of garlic, 20 g of fresh greens, 1 teaspoon of sugar and two tablespoons of lemon juice. First, the garlic is passed through the garlic; chili is finely cut, soy sauce and lemon juice are poured into them, greens and sugar are put. Then the meat pieces are placed in the marinade and left for three hours. Half an hour before the end of pickling, the meat is salted to taste.

• Marinade on pomegranate juice. For the preparation you will need 1 kilogram of meat, a glass of natural juice, three cloves of garlic, 5 g of black ground pepper and three tablespoons of olive oil. All ingredients are mixed in a saucepan, put mutton in there and leave from two to six hours. This marinade is considered the most productive. The acid of the pomegranate does not kill the meat fibers and gives the mutton a rich, noble taste.

• Marinade for caret. You need to prepare the following ingredients: 1 kilogram of lamb chops, a glass of olive oil, 1 onion, 5 cloves of garlic, bay leaf, three sprigs of rosemary and a mixture of peppers. All components are mixed in deep containers, put back ribs and leave for 30 minutes.

See the recipe for the most delicious mutton shashlik in the video below.