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Marination is a cooking technique used in many recipes. If you have ever did marination then you must be aware of its classic benefits like flavor enhancement and tender meat and vegetables. Mostly marination is used to achieve the latter purpose. However, to achieve it effectively almost 18 hours of refrigeration time is required. So its quite time consuming.
Well thanks to the modern technology, now you can marinate food easily and quickly. You have to get a vacuum sealer and see the magic happening. Yes, with vacuum sealing technique you can marinate meat and vegetables within 30 minutes. Vacuum sealer works by opening up the fibers of meat and increasing its absorbing ability. In this way, the marinade mixture absorbs through the food quickly. Well there are so many methods for marinating food by using vacuum sealers, lets read on to find out how to use your vacuum sealer for quick marination.
You can marinate your food using different options like bags. So if you are planning to use bags for quickly marinating your food by vacuum sealer, then follow this step by step process and get the best results:
Try to use a good sized pouch or bag so that the liquid don’t get spilt over your vacuum sealer. Using a bag which could leave almost 2 inches of space at the end is ideal for marination process with vacuum sealer.
Once you have chosen a good sized pouch, start preparing your marinade. You can either make your own marinade or buy one from any shop.
Though you can marinade food in whatever size you want but its always ideal to cut the meat or vegetables in small pieces. This is ideal because the thin sliced food absorbs the marinade mixture quickly. So prepare your food for marinating.
Gather all your ingredients and put them in a pouch or bag. Also, add the marinade mixture into the bag but make all the ingredients are cool.
Don’t just leave the ingredients as it is, instead mix them by moving the food around in the bag. This movement will allow the food and marinade to fully mix together.
Now the food in the bag is ready to get vacuum sealed for best marination taste. Just seal the pouch or bag and put it in a refrigerator for 15 minutes to 2 hours for best flavor.
In case, you are willing to marinate your food with vacuum sealer by using canisters then some accessories and equipments will be required. You can purchase different kinds of canisters according to your vacuum sealer. Plus, there will be an accessory hose required to attach the canister with your sealer.
So if you want to use your vacuum sealer for quick marination using canisters, you must purchase this type of equipment. It would be highly ideal if you could purchase a vacuum sealer that can be attached with an accessory hose or a retractable hose. Though, some vacuum sealers don’t come with the hose but have a canister port on the list. This kind of vacuum sealer can also do the job effectively or otherwise you can purchase an accessory hose at small additional price. This will help you attach the port properly and perform the required function.
For example, you can use a vacuum sealer by FoodSaver®, which markets a Quick Marinator feature. This special accessory will make marinating your food very easy and quick. This marinator unit is attached to the sealer by means of an accessory hose.
Once you have got the required accessories to attach the canister to vacuum sealer, you can proceed with the following steps and marinate food quickly by using canister:
Take all the ingredients and slice them thinly. Since thinly sliced food like meat and vegetables take up marinade easily. Prepare marinade mixture at home or buy one. Now you are prepared to move on to the next step.
Gather and add all the ingredients and marinade into the canister. Make sure all the ingredients and marinade are mixed together. Also, the ingredients and marinade should be cool and covered.
Take your required accessories like hose or canister port to attach the canister to the vacuum sealer. Make sure its fitted properly, you can use the manual to attach it.
Once you have attached the canister to vacuum sealer, start the sealer. Allow the sealer to run for few minutes and then turn it off. If you want best results and quick marination then repeat the process many times. The repetition will allow the food to fully absorb the marinade, get tender and become rich in flavor. This marination takes less time than the bag based marination with vacuum sealers. Also, keep it in the fridge for more quick results.
Well, if still you have some question on your mind about using your vacuum sealer for quick marination then the following commonly asked questions can help you get the right answer:
The process is quite easy to understand. The pressure from vacuum sealer creates a kind of vacuum around the food, which make the food fibers open. These microscopic open spaces look like the surface of sponge. It enables the food to absorb marinade quickly.
Though you can add food in bags or canisters in any way you want but to make the process quicker the food should be thinly sliced. Thin sliced food is always ideal for marinating, since it takes up the marinade quickly.
Marinating food by using a vacuum sealer is real quick. The traditional methods of marinating food take several hours or even several days to take the full flavor of marinade mixture. However, with vacuum sealer the process if quite quick and efficient. It takes only 15 minutes or 2 hours to marinade and develop full flavor with vacuum sealer.
It happens with many users that marinade gets sucked up into the drip tray and then due to moisture it doesn’t seal effectively. To avoid this, try using a paper towel or a coffee filter to keep the marinade from going into the drip tray. It will seal perfectly and your marinade would work quickly.
Making marinades is quite easy and once you start experimenting you would realize the range of options you have at hand. Apart from making your own marinades, you can try different brands of marinade available in the market. So experiment with few marinades before settling for some particular flavors. In fact, these days many online retailers are selling unique flavors which are not particularly available at shops. However, you can always take chances of experimenting with different online marinade recipes and make some for special events.
If you want to do the quick marination then its important to take care of the sealing process. For doing so, you must keep the liquid away from the sealing end of your bag. If the lip of bag gets wet then it will not get sealed properly and would not marinate quickly. So always clear the open end of the bag and then leave about 1 inch of space between the ingredients and the seal. Then you can seal it with a vacuum sealer and it will marinate quickly.
In case, there is no auto-marinate button in your vacuum sealer then just vacuum seal the bag or canister. After doing it, just open and remove the tube from the canister or bag for at least 3 minutes to get air. Repeat this process until the food gets marinated. This process is easy but you have to repeat it for 2-3 times. But it’s the quick option too.
Read more: foodsaver comparison