Herewith is my favorite new marinade and rub for meat, fish, veggies. You name it. I’ll hit it with my new fav.
And it couldn’t be simpler to make.
Into a food processor goes a bunch of cilantro, three or four teaspoons of fresh-ground black pepper and three or four peeled garlic cloves. Process it up while drizzling in olive oil until a paste forms. Should only take 20 seconds or so.
The marinade/rub is based on one of the central flavor foundations of Thai cooking.
My latest use of it was rubbing a three-pound chicken all over and under the skin with it. Just slather it all over. Into the fridge for a few hours to overnight.
I roasted the bird at 375 degrees for about 80 minutes on a bed of carrots and onions after draping prosciutto slices over the bird.
The result was succulent and moist chicken with veggies that had taken a luxuriant bath on the chicken drippings and marinade drippings and prosciutto drippings. Which reinforces Cooking Rule No. 14: The more drippings the better.
Among the wonderful targets for the marinade/rub mixture are fish, pork, shrimp, all vegetables.
Add it to your cooking skill set and you won’t be sorry.
And don’t forget Cooking Rules 1-13.
—LOU
I never heard of Cooking Rule No. 14. But you always have pretty much made up your own rules.
I will also make up a rule: It’s good to have something to sop up those drippings, like crusty bread or rice. That’s Cooking Rule No. 15: the sopping rule.
—LUCY