When someone mentions barbecue images comes to the mind like cooking at the backyard grill, a social gathering, cooking outdoors and cooking meat slowly over wood and smoke that adds flavor to the food.
Different cooks have different preferences and style in their cooking. Some prefer rubbing the seasoning whether wet or dry prior to cooking and some prefers to soak the meat first in special marinades that could be sops, mops and finishing. The preparation and ingredients for marinating may differ from region to region the preferred wood to be used can also differ. However, no perfect barbecue will taste as good without the perfect barbecue sauce.
Barbecue sauces can generally be categorized by what they are based on. Common examples are tomato, vinegar and mustard based sauces. To give the barbecue its distinctive taste and prevent the meat from burning easily, barbecue sauces are applied to the meat while being cooked with the exemption of tomato based barbecue sauces as tomato based sauces burns easier than the other kinds of sauces.
Barbecue sauce preparation can either be sweet, sour, tangy, spicy, hot, thick or thin. The varieties are almost endless which makes barbecues popular because anyone can make his own special preparation depending on taste and anyone can create his own way of serving the barbecue.
Recipes for barbecues can also be guarded. And good barbecue sauces can be purchased at almost any store. But the only perfect barbecue sauce is the one that you can create for yourself.
Remember whatever works for you and your family can be a great barbecue sauce. So start experimenting that is the only way to start good cooking.
The basics of Barbecue sauces…
Tomato based barbecue sauce is the most widely used. Some say that it is the most popular. Its popularity however may be due to the simplicity of preparation and besides; tomatoes are ingredients that could easily be found. The point to remember in preparing tomato-based barbecue sauces is to cook the tomatoes very well in order for the flavor to blend with the other ingredients.
Tomato based barbecue sauces are acidic. Because of this, it has the property to breakdown all the flavor of other ingredients blending them with its own. But because of its propensity to burn, limit the usage of tomato based barbecue sauce while cooking. To make it even more flavorful, prepare tomato barbecue sauces a day in advance.
Mustard based sauces are preferred in North Carolina. The mustard based barbecue sauce is great for grilling pork.
Vinegar is great meat tenderizer. It is also more acidic than tomatoes. Because of its acidic content, vinegar based sauces has a tendency to penetrate deep into the meat. To make this barbecue sauce more flavorful, experiment mixing it with chili, cider vinegar or red pepper, sugar salt and all the other ingredients that you want it to have.
Barbecue sauces today has different uses departing from its traditional purpose. It now serves as a condiment that is present on almost any table like ketchup, salsa, salt, pepper and Tabasco.
However, if experimenting with food is not your greatest strength, you can always find great sauces in any store. To make great barbecues, one rule to follow is not to place too much weight on the “with smoke flavor” label that many bottled tomato sauces advertise itself. Smoke flavor is what is barbecuing all about. The flavor has to come from the wood not the bottle.
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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/using-the-perfect-barbecue-sauce-1647389.html
Filed under Recipe by on Dec 31st, 2009. Comment. 
Lots of people believe that a tough piece of meat will be made tender by a good marinade, so they buy cheaper grades than they should. Unfortunately, that is not really the case. Good meat has to start out as good meat, and while many marinades taste great, they do not tenderize all that much. Let us look at three major categories of marinade and see how they work.
Marinades come in three basic types – acidic, enzymatic, and dairy. Acidic marinades that are too strong can make your food tough, while enzymatic marinades at an overly high strength will turn many steaks to mush. Dairy marinades can improve the tenderness of meat, but they are not necessarily suited to certain kinds of cooking.
Acid marinades are among the most common in Western cooking, and use vinegar, wine and citrus to denature the proteins in the meat, unwinding them and tangling them back together. The same general process occurs when we heat food. This mesh of proteins will trap water initially, and the steak will be more tender. However, highly acidic marinades will tighten those bonds further, forcing out the water and making the food tougher.
Milder acid marinades are preferable to really strong ones, since they allow us to add plenty of flavor without the danger of tightening the meat and toughening it. Meats that start out with a closer grain, including flank steak, will do okay in a stronger acidic marinade, but they are also tougher to being with.
Enzyme marinades actually have the ability to break down animal tissue, including muscle fiber and connective tissue. Many fruits contain enzymes that can break down protein, but papaya and pineapple are probably the most common. Overuse them, and they will create a mushy, unappealing piece of meat. The same thing happens if you use them too long. This kind of activity is present in commercial meat tenderizers, too.
The last category of easy steak marinades is based on mildly acidic dairy products, like yogurt or buttermilk. These are commonly used in India for goat and lamb, as well as for southern fried chicken.
Steaks can be interesting in this kind of marinade, but you may need to look at how you are cooking them, since this is not the most common type of marinade used for them. Try curry flavors along with your marinade for a good result.
Marinades do not have to be complicated, and if you know the kind of results to expect from your ingredients, you will have no problem getting a great end product every time. Take a little while to investigate the different varieties of marinades to find the one that is likely to go best with your steak. The results might surprise you.
Knowing the different types of marinades makes it easy and fun to make great steak every time you set out to make great steak. Just like there are different types of steak, there are different types of marinades and using the right marinade with the right cut of meat is a must but if you pair these two together properly, the results will be well worth the time and effort it takes to learn these tricks.
Looking for quality steak recipes and tips that will improve an already great steak? When you need to know how to make a great steak tips marinade you want to find out all the secrets to produce a great steak. But where do you get this information? These secrets can be found at http://www.EasySteakMarinades.net for advice informative articles and terrific recipes that you will love.Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/so-what-are-the-principles-for-easy-steak-marinades-1446711.html
Filed under Recipe, Techniques by on Nov 11th, 2009. Comment.
