Yet another secret revealed

A lot of marinades use oil in some proportion. There is a scientific reason for that, but it eludes me right now, and it isn't the issue here anyway.

Those marinades, once the meat or fish has been removed, have good flavor and would make a good sauce, but because of the oil in there, it can't be reduced (oil doesn't evaporate, and it will cook-out the other ingredients, leaving you with a greasy smear).

So, what do you do? Well, I learned this trick the other day, and it seemed really obvious to me once it was pointed out, but it needed to be pointed out to me, so maybe other folk haven't thought of it either.

Add flour. Oil is just fat, and fat and flour, cooked together, makes a roux. Your marinade will thicken up (and it will cook out any raw food ickiness that remains behind) and you'll be able to use all that marinade flavor to dress-up whatever meat you had sitting in it.

In my case I was making a wet-jerk for chicken. The chicken had lots of flavor, but it looked a little lonely on the plate, needing something to add some sheen and moisture. The marinade thickened up nice, and added elements of flavor that the meat only had hints of (namely the habanero, it was damn spicy, and I scaled back the peppers. The original recipe called for 10, TEN habanero peppers, I used two).

Give it a try next time you marinade. Sauces are good stuff, and always nice to add to your plate.