Marinating Meat

[KNorthrup]

Yesterday afternoon, I put some beef short ribs (sliced lengthwise so they're about 1/2" thick) and green onions in a Korean kal-bi type marinade. It now looks like I may not be able to cook them until tomorrow evening. Will it be a mushy disaster by then or just very flavourful?

[Dave the Cook]

I'm not familiar with the marinade. What's in it?

[Suzanne F]

Too long in a highly acid marinade breaks down the muscle; but there's not much if any acid in that marinade, is there? Then you don't have to worry about the meat going mushy. The green onions may come out looking the worse for it, but so what?

[KNorthrup]

Shamefully, the marinade is not from scratch and I'm not even home so I have no idea about the acid content. But it should be primarily soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar. Some versions have rice wine or sherry but there won't be anything really serious like citrus or vinegar. I hope.

[Dave the Cook]

The other thing you've got going for you is that short ribs are pretty tough -- full of connective tissue. There's some acid in the wine, but I'm thinking you're going to be fine, unless they've added some kind of tenderizer like papain.

[torakris]

You should probably be ok,

I make these kind of marinades quite often and find for the thinner cuts of meat 24 hours is about the max they can sit. They don't really get mushy, but they just don't taste as good, with your thicker cut you should be fine.

[KNorthrup]

It did turn out fine. Thanks much for the info/assurance. It's nice when food is willing to be flexible.