Tequila's Up in Your Grill

Seriously, I should know how to spell Tequila without looking it up.....perhaps I can blame it on my lack of blogging? Wait, no, I should be apologizing for that, not using it as an excuse. Hopefully after this post about 2 Tequila marinades, I will no longer have a spelling problem and I'll be well on my way to a series of new posts and you will have forgotten about my little cooking/blogging hiatus.

These two Tequila marinades are quite similar, the first is a little more citrusy and the second has more of a spicy bite. You can use them with fish, shrimp or chicken. I recently used the Citrus Tequila Marinade with shrimp and accidentally learned a few things about ceviche. Ceviche is citrus marinated seafood, using fish or shellfish. Ceviche's origin is argued to be Spanish, Polynesian, Latin America, or South America. Citric acid, typically from lime, lemon, or orange, causes the proteins in the seafood to become denatured - this pickles or "cooks" the fish without heat. Traditional style ceviche only needs to marinated around 3 hours.

Back to the recipes....I mixed up the marinade, peeled and deveined (eww!) the shrimp, and then let the shrimp marinate while I prepared the rest of the meal (grilled veggies and dessert - Strawberry Tiramisu! Yes, a post for this will follow.). This was about an 1.5 to 2 hours. When the shrimp came out of the marinade they looked white and cooked on the edges - just like ceviche! Not a terrible thing since it was just the edges, but if I had marinated them for much longer, it could have led to toughness. So how does ceviche stay succulent and flakey and not tough? The seafood is chopped into very small pieces and then marinated for up to 3 hours depending on the recipe - because the pieces are small, the consistency of the seafood will remain similar throughout.

So the lesson learned here - shrimp and fish only needs to be marinated for 30 to 60 minutes when cooking with heat. Other useful tips I learned: 1) Marinate poultry 1 to 3 hours, and 2) Any marinade coming in contact with raw meat, seafood or poultry must be boiled for one minute before using it for basting. Or just reserve some of your marinade before adding your meat.


Citrus Tequila Marinade
Adapted from somewhere on the Internet
Makes about 3/4 cup for about 1 and 1/2 pounds of meat

Ingredients
2 tablespoons lime juice (about 2 limes)
3 tablespoons Tequila
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed (check out this debate and decide which you want to do)
2 pinch salt
ground black pepper, too taste

Jump to instructions below.

Tequila Mockingbird Marinade
Source: Bon Appetit

Servings: Makes about generous 3/4 cup. Marinates about 1 and 1/2 pounds of meat

Ingredients:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons tequila
2 tablespoons triple sec
1 large jalapeño chili, seeded, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lime peel
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons of cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

Instructions
Mix all ingredients in small bowl or tupperware container big enough for your meat. Let stand 15 minutes (Can be prepared 1 day ahead). Add your meat. Cover and refrigerate.

Marinate poultry 1 to 3 hours and seafood 30 minutes in refrigerator. Drain (do not pat dry) and grill. If you are using wooden skewers, be sure to soak the skewers in water for 15 to 30 minutes to prevent sparkler action.

Optional:

Boil remaining marinade in heavy small saucepan 1 minute or reserve ~1/4 cup of marinade before you add the meat. Drizzle some of marinade over poultry or seafood just before serving.