Marinating made easy

Many fine meat dishes require a marinade, but this usually needs one thing above all else: Time. Marinating often has to be done up to 12 hours in advance so that the flavours can perfectly penetrate the meat. Especially when you're in a hurry, long marinating times can be a deterrent. The solution for impatient cooks: Marinate in vacuum bags or a vacuum container.

What does marinating actually mean?

Food is marinated by placing it in a flavouring liquid. The base of the marinade is oil and an acidic liquid (e.g. wine, buttermilk, lemon juice). Add fresh or dried herbs or other spices. Depending on the type and size of the marinating product, it takes several hours to days for the flavour to penetrate the meat. Classic dishes to marinate are steaks, lamb chops or paprika chicken. But it does not always have to be meat. Sheep's cheese and halloumi also taste even better marinated.

How to turn hours into minutes

Vacuum technology speeds up the marinating process enormously. Instead of waiting for hours for the marinated meat, you only have to wait a few minutes. Due to the vacuum inside the container, the meat fibers slightly separate compared to being at atmospheric pressure. As a result, flavours of added liquids and spices can more easily penetrate the meat and ease giving it an aromatic taste within a shorter time. The technique also works for other pickled specialities, such as sauerbraten or boiled beef.

This is how is works:

Vacuum sealing liquids in a bag is not easy. With the right tips and tricks, however, you will quickly become a vacuum sealing specialist.

Make sure that the bag is maximum 2/3 full and that the food is as cold as possible. It is important that sealing area remains clean and dry. It is often helpful to roll the bag opening outwards when filling.

Now it's time to vacuum seal. It is very important here that the vacuum is created very gently. Otherwise the liquid gets sucked upwards and prevents a clean, tight seal from forming.

To ensure this, all Lava devices from the V.300 Premium onwards are therefore equipped with the L+ pressure regulator as standard. All smaller devices can be easily retrofitted with an L+ pressure regulator . The pressure regulator allows the desired negative pressure to be set manually from -0.2 bar up to the maximum negative pressure. In this way, the air is drawn out of the bag without drawing the liquid up with it.

You can let the bag hang over the edge of the table when vacuum sealing, as we already show in our magazine article “How to make your own coffee and herb oil”.

If you are using a vacuum sealer with a single seal, it is advisable to use a Lava liquid stop.

Alternatively, you can marinate in a vacuum container. The video from the Lava test kitchen shows what you should pay particular attention to. So get to work on those marinades!