Flavor That Food!

Exploring the
Science of Marinades

Antonio Nestor C. Pasion

Grade 8
 Absract
Marination if done correctly adds a whole new chapter
of flavors to your dishes. Certain ingredients like salt
penetrate beyond the surface of your foods and adding
whole new level of WOW to what you’re cooking.
Marinating is the process of soaking meats in a
seasoned liquid, called a marinade, before cooking.
Think of it as a little bath which will add tenderness
and flavor to your meat in the long-run.
They often use acids, enzymes or dry marinade as
they cause the meat’s tissue to weaken on the surface.
As stated, certain ingredients such as salt can
penetrate deeper into the interior of meats, however,
others like soy sauce or honey will only go as far as
the surface of the meat. Because of that marinades
work well with thinner, flat cuts of meat that have
been cut into slices or cubes.
This experiment will test which ingredient is truly the
best at aiding the adsorption level of a marinade. My
hypothesis was that the answer would be vinegar due
to it’s acidity. My experimental results supported my
hypothesis. In all of the three trials, the vinegar gave
the meat (tofu) a much darker color compared to the
other ingredients (salt and sugar) in the test. Meaning
to say that the vinegar solution was adsorbed more
than the salt and sugar solution.
 Question
Which among the different ingredients (sugar, salt and
vinegar) has the most effect on the adsorption level of
a marinade?
 Hypothesis
Adding vinegar to marinades has the highest level of
adsorption onto food compared to salt and sugar.
 Variables
Independent variables: Water, salt, vinegar, sugar and
food dye
Dependent variable: Level of adsorption
Controlled variables: Marination time and temperature
 Background Resarch

The use of marinades is common among all cultures

and can provide a unique kick to food when done
correctly. The word marinade comes from the latin
word marinara, which means “of the sea.” The term
originally came from the use of seawater to preserve
meat. Marination is the process of immersing foods in
a liquid often made with oil, seasonings and an acid
or
enzymatic component, to flavor and tenderize food.
Meat toughness is related to the collagen and elastin
fiber content in its connective tissue. One way to
tenderize lean meat is with moist heat, as this breaks
down stiff collagen proteins into soft soluble gelatin.
Gelatin is what is responsible for that silky, falling
apart texture mouthfeel. This can be achieved with
braising and stewing, where meat is simmered in liquid
at a low temperature, allowing collagen to dissolve
starting at 160 degrees F. However, this
conversion process can take some time, even up to 72
hours. Another reason to pre-tenderize meat before
cooking is to prevent dried out meat since moisture is
lost when heat is applied (despite being cooked in
liquid.) This is where marination comes into play, as it
provides another opportunity for protein breakdown.
This method can thus shorten subsequent cooking
time as well as minimize moisture loss as less
heat is added to cook the meat. The three types of
marination include acidic and enzymatic marination.
Acids, such as lemon juice or vinegar work by
denaturing proteins through disruption of hydrogen
bonds in collagen fibrils. When meat is exposed to an
acidic marinade, the bonds break between protein
bundles, and the proteins unwind, forming as loose
mesh. Enzymes, on the otherhand, increase the rate at
which cellular reactions occur and certain
enzymes help attack the protein works of tough
meat. Salt in a marinade draws moisture out of the
meat by osmosis. Because of the moisture lost, the
resultant brine is reabsorbed into meat while
breaking down muscle structure. Sugar in
marinades, while having a small effect on the
moisture of meats compared to salt, is mainly used
in aiding the browning reactions that enhance the
flavor of cooked meat.
Another factor to take into account is the amount of
contact the meat has with the marinade. Marination
is a process of adsorption, where marinade adheres
to the outer surface of the meat rather than
absorption, where it would penetrate all the way
through. It may be helpful to use thinner slices of
meat to enhance the marinade penetration and
reduce marination time.
For thicker cuts, marinades can be injected to increase
contact surfaces. Fat such as oils are also useful to
transfer fat-soluble flavors from the seasonings into
the meat. In general, tender cuts of meat should not
require as much marination time as tougher cuts, and
fish require even less time. Marinated meats should
also be refrigerated to prevent harmful bacterial
growth.
 Materials and Equipment
 Knife
 Cutting board
 Tofu, extra-firm
 Clear plastic wrap
 Plastic disposable cups, 12-oz
 Permanent marker
 Tap water
 Measuring cups
 Blue food dye
 Salt
 Apple cider vinegar (5% acidity)
 Sugar
 Tablespoon measuring spoon
 Sheet of white paper
 Slotted spoon
 Timer
 Notebook
 Procedure
1. To start, cut the tofu blocks into cubes, about 2cm on
each side. Cut about 60.
2. Using the permanent marker, label six cups with the
numbers 1-6. Line them up on your workspace in
increasing order. These will be your standard solutions.
3. Put ½ cup of water into each of the six cups.
4. Add dye to the cups, starting with the cup labeled
“1” as follows: 0 drop, 1 drop, 2 drops, 4 drops, 8 drops
and 16 drops.
5. Stir the dye in each cup, going from the cup labeled
“2” to the cup labeled “6.”
6. Label four plastic cups, as follows: water, salt,
vinegar, sugar. These are your test solutions.
7. To the “water” cup, add 1 cup of water.
8. To the “salt” cup, add 1 tablespoon of salt and 1
cup of water.
9. To the “vinegar” cup add, ¼ cup of vinegar and ¾
cup of water.
10. To the “sugar” cup, add 1 tablespoon of sugar and
1 cup of water.
11. Add eight drops of dye to each of the solutions:
water, salt, vinegar and sugar.
12. Using a clean spoon for each of the four cups, stir
the cups so that the dye gets mixed in and the salt and
sugar are completely dissolved in their cups.
13. Carefully add two room-temperature tofu cubed to
each of the solutions you prepared.
14. Record the times that the cubes go into and come
out of the dye test solution in your notebook.
15. Allow the tofu cubes to marinate for 1 hour at
room temperature.
16. Prepare a surface, with appropriate labels, on
which to put the tofu cubes.
Position the white sheet of paper lengthwise. On the piece
of paper write the following with permanent marker.
A. The numbers 1 to 6, about 5cm apart near the top of the
paper.
B. The words salt, water, vinegar and sugar across the
middle of the paper. Write about 5cm apart.
17. Cover the paper with clear plastic wrap. You will put the
cubes on the plastic wrap (directly below the words that
describe their treatment)
to keep the food from leaking onto the paper.
18. Using a slotted spoon, remove the two cubes from
each of the standard solutions.
19. Line the cubes on the piece of plastic wrap, with
the two cubes from each of the standard solutions.
20. Using the same slotted spoon, remove the two
cubes from each of the test solutions.
Put the cubes from each solution just below the word
that indicates its solution: water, salt, vinegar or
sugar.
21. Now estimate the level of color for the cubes from
the different test solutions, using the standard cubes
for comparison.
 Data Table

Test Standard Match   Average Standard Match Average Standard

Solution   Match for the Three
Trials
Water 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
  4 4 4        
Salt 5 5 4 5 5 4 4.6
  5 5 4        
Vinegar 6 5 5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5
  5 6 6        
Sugar 4 5 4 4.5 5 4 4.5
  5 5 4        
 Graph
Sugar

Vinegar

Salt

Water

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Average Standard Match for 3 Trials

 Results
The results showed that the vinegar mixture was
adsorbed onto the tofu more than the other
mixtures (salt, sugar and water). The color blue
was visibly shown to be darker on the vinegar
mixture on all three trials. It is then followed by
salt, sugar then lastly water.
 Conclusion
The results supported my hypothesis. Since vinegar is
an acid it allowed for the food to effectively be broken
down on the surface thus allowing the marinade to be
adsorbed there. Salt still works well as an ingredient
in marinade as it can break down muscle structure
when reabsorbed back into the food. Sugar on the
other hand, while not as effective as salt in aiding the
adsorption of a marinade, enhances
the browning reactions which will in turn enhance
the flavor of the food.
 Bibliography
 www.sciencebuddies.org
 www.discovermagazine.com
 www.myrecipes.com
 www.wikipeadia.com
 www.jessicagavin.com
 www.cookful.com
 www.scienceofmarinades.com
 www.scientificamerican.com