There are plenty of things you can do that add flavor to meat you’re about to grill, but one of my personal favorites is marinating. Unlike using a rub or seasoning, liquid marinades go inside the food you’re cooking. While there are recipes that’ll tell you to rest meat in marinade for hours or even days prior to cooking, it isn’t the only way to go about adding flavor. There’s a quicker way, with a tool called a marinade injector. Injectors enable you to put the marinade inside the meat you’re about to cook, eliminating the waiting for proper flavor to develop. Let’s take a look at building a marinade recipe and how to properly use an injector to turn up the flavor on your favorite grilled food.

Start Simple

Proper flavor is built in layers. You’ve got a lot of choices when it comes to building a flavor profile, from simple salt and pepper to the wide array of spices we use in cooking today. Combine these with liquids like Worcestershire, fruit juices, hot sauce, and even fish sauce, and you’ll take taste to an even higher level. But marinades don’t always have to have a million ingredients to be great. When you create your own recipe, it’s best to start simple – not only so that you don’t completely overpower the meat, but also to be able to adjust one ingredient at a time to achieve the perfect balance.

The most important things to consider when choosing your ingredients for a marinade are flavor intensity and salt content. When trying to achieve a nice balance with food, consider how potent ingredients like garlic, onion, salt, and chili peppers can be. It’s best to base the quantity of these ingredients on their respective strength in flavor. The four basic components of most marinades are:

• Oil (or other fats)
• Acid (vinegars, citrus juices)
• Salt and sugar
• Herbs and spices

Oils usually make up the bulk of a marinade, while acids, salt, sugar, and spices are added in smaller amounts. Too much oil, and flavors won’t shine through. Too much acid can break down the meat and create an unfavorable texture. Salt and sugar needs to be portioned correctly to avoid something too sweet or salty, and spices should work together to create the desired effect.

Taste, Taste, Taste

Like any other recipe, marinade recipes are created through trial and error with lots of taste testing. Start with some base amounts, mix up your ingredients, taste the marinade, and adjust as necessary. It’s a good idea to take notes while building a recipe to keep track of ingredient amounts as you change them.

Injectors

One super convenient tool to help you add flavor is the aforementioned marinade injector. You can skip a good portion of recommended marinade time with these devices. Injectors typically consist of a large needle with offset holes attached to a plunger that holds the marinade. Once you’ve made your marinade, place the needle of your injector into the bowl of marinade and pull out the plunger to draw it into the syringe. Injecting meats is as easy as inserting the needle into the meat, pressing down on the plunger, and slowly withdrawing the injector as you dispense the marinade. Check out this video on our Youtube page to see how it’s done.

If your marinade recipe contains herbs or spices, you’re best off infusing them into the marinade and then straining the mixture so the chunks of spice don’t clog your injector. We’ve used this technique in the recipe below to demonstrate.

Orange Spiced Turkey Marinade

Ingredients

• 1 ½ C. water
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 3-4 pieces allspice
• 1 piece star anise
• 1 piece clove
• ¼ dried orange peel
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 C. orange juice
• 1 C. chicken stock
• ¾ lb. butter, softened (for rubbing turkey)

Instructions

1. Bring water to a boil in medium-sized saucepot.
2. Stir in honey and salt to dissolve.
3. Add allspice, anise, clove and orange peel then turn off heat.
4. Place a lid on the pot and steep 15 minutes to infuse flavor.
5. Strain mixture using fine mesh sieve and allow to cool.
6. Once cool, add orange juice and chicken stock.
7. Stir thoroughly to combine.
8. Rub poultry with softened butter and season with salt and pepper.
9. Inject turkey (or chicken) liberally with marinade up to one hour before cooking.

Recipe makes approximately 3½ cups of marinade.

Feel free to add or subtract ingredients after you’ve tried this simple marinade. After all, experimenting is the fun part!

Daniel Replogle

Daniel does business development and marketing at The Companion Group. When he isn’t writing you can find him rock climbing or doing ceramic artwork.