When you marinate foods you are not only imparting the flavor of the ingredients to the meat, but you are breaking down some of the muscle and connective tissue of the meat by using an acid food in your marinade.
Is there any other ingredient that should be present in a marinade?
Any seasonings that you like are acceptable. Using fresh herbs is preferable because they will not burn as readily when you are grilling.
I like to add a little oil to most of my marinades because it coats the meat and causes the meat to sear shut rapidly thus keeping in the natural juices of the meat.seems to keep the meat.
Is there any food I should be concerned about using in a marinade?
Yes, I would always be careful not to use a large amount of sweetener--honey, brown sugar, molasses --in the marinade. Sugar tends to macerate food, pulls the juices out of the meat. If there is too much sugar in the marinade it will carmelize rapidly and burn if the food is on the grill for a long time. This is why BBQ Chicken is often black when prepared at home with commercial BBQ sauce! In Texas, the chicken is marinated or rubbed with spices and then during the last fifteen minutes of grilling, the chicken is basted with the sweet sauce to give it a mahogany skin and great taste.
