ABSTRACT
What is marination and why is it important in today’s muscle foods industry? Marination has many different meanings depending on whether it is for home and restaurant use or industry application. In the context of this chapter and in muscle foods processing, it generally means the addition of liquids including functional ingredients, spices, and Žavorings to food products prior to cooking. Other de‘nitions describe marination similarly, stating that it is a technique used to improve tenderness, juiciness, and enrich Žavor of meat (Brooks 2007). The marination time before cooking and the type of marinade, whether within the processing plant, restaurant, or at home, can vary widely depending on the product and its intended use. For muscle foods processors, chefs, and entrepreneurs, marination generally means the addition of several functional ingredients that can add Žavor and improve tenderness while improving moisture retention, juiciness, and certainly yields. This type of marination application generally refers to enhancement of the product and is in direct relationship with product yield. To consumers and some food service operators, marination is simply the process of soaking or adding ingredients to food products for some time prior to cooking in order to enhance the product by adding Žavor, moisture, and tenderness. This is often a slow process that involves passive transport of the marinade mixture into the meat products by absorption or osmosis (Brooks 2007).
