Mama's Tip of the Day

Stocking your freezer

One habit that's made life easier at our house is keeping a little library of sauces and marinades in the freezer. It's great when you have time to grocery shop, but not time to prepare a lot of big batches of meals to freeze. This way, you grab all the meat you want, prep and freeze them just the way they are, and you can mix and match depending on your mood on any given night.

For example, right now, there are several batches of each of the following in my freezer:

Pomegranate Chipotle Mop Sauce
Tropical Marinade
Marinade to Tenderize Steak*
Marinade for Chicken and Pork
Apple Ginger Marinade
The Meatman's Marinade #2
Mexican Smoked Chili Marinade
Berbere Marinade**
Mesquite Nutmeg Beef Marinade
White Wine Brine+
Korean Marinade+
Chermoula+


You can double or triple the batches pretty easily, pour 1-2 cup portions into quart-sized freezer bags, and you're ready to go. Many sauces, rubs, and marinades have a high sugar or alcohol content, so their temperature stays a little higher and they don't freeze as solidly as other foods. This can be a little scary if you're not careful (never freeze raw meat in a sauce with high sugar or alcohol content, because the meat itself may not freeze completely, allowing bacteria to grow), but on the plus side, they defrost quickly so even weeknights are no problem.


* Marinade to Tenderize Steak: There are no proportions given in the recipe, so here's my version. 3 cloves garlic, crushed; 1 tsp cracked black pepper; 1 tbsp McCormick's Cajun Seasoning; 1 bottle Harp lager. Throw everything in a blender or food processor, blend until smooth. Wait for the head to settle before bagging and freezing.

** I made a few minor changes to the Berbere Marinade recipe. I used red onion; tripled the red pepper flakes; skipped the cardamom (didn't have it) and fenugreek (hate it). During blending, added extra olive oil to get it really smooth.

+ The White Wine Brine, Korean Marinade, and Chermoula all come from the Kingsford Complete Grilling Cookbook. I prepared the first two just as published, but added a small bundle of fresh mint to the chermoula. I'm not usually a huge cilantro fan, but this recipe was really nice on grilled kebabs.