Paleo Meat Marinates to Tenderize
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1. Cuban Mojo

This is a powerful, highly flexible marinade. It pairs well with beef, pork, chicken, and fish, but the high acidity makes it easy to over-marinate. Don’t go over an hour with this one.

Ingredients:

• Bulb (yes, bulb) of garlic, minced
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• Zest from the citrus
• 2 tsp cumin

Method:

Mix it all up and cover your meat completely. Remember, don’t marinate for longer than an hour.

2. Skirt Steak Marinade

 

This recipe is adapted from an Alton Brown recipe. We love his scientific approach to cooking, but his ingredients sometimes need a Primal adjustment. This is one of those times. Oh, and any thin cut of steak will do: skirt, flap, Milanese, etc.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp salt, dissolved in two ounces water
• 4 scallions, cut in half
• 2 big cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 tsp red chile pepper flakes/powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp honey

Method:

Mix it all up and cover your meat completely. Marinate in the fridge for an hour.

3. Balsamic Marinade

 

This works equally well for steak, pork, and chicken. Balsamic is one of the weaker vinegars, so you don’t have to fret too much over over-marinating, but given enough time it will break down and eventually toughen the meat.

Ingredients:

• A few splashes of balsamic vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Sea salt and black pepper to cover all sides
• Thyme (fresh or otherwise)

Method:

Rub the meat with all the ingredients. This is more of a wet rub, but it will impart a lot of flavor. Leave the meat in the fridge for half an hour before cooking. If you want to reach more meat faster, go ahead and add some olive oil to the mix (along with more of everything else), which will allow for a more traditional, liquid marinade.