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Can I marinade too long?

calvinko805

I am using this marinade http://sansaire.com/cook-steak-sous-vide/#fauxaged

on a prime rib. I said up to 24 hours. Can I over marinade? Also will it be over salt if I do not remove in time?

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matthew.snyder77

You can definitely overmarinate. The net result, at least with that recipe, would likely be a destruction of the texture of the flesh, moreso than ruining the flavor.

kh.anuj

Hey Calvin, you can certainly over-marinate. There really are two things going on, one is the denaturing of protein along the surface of the meat, the other pertains to the isoelectric point of meat. We often perceive tenderness based on the amount of water contained in the meat product and both the aforementioned affect meat water content.

When we initially apply an acidic (below 4.6pH) protein strands along the surface of the meat begin to unravel and allow liquid to move in to that 1-2mm on the surface on the meat. However marinate too long and then the proteins denature and collapse squeezing that water out, thereby creating a drier product, at least at the surface. Simultaneously the pH of the meat is lowered. The isoelectric point of most meats is around 5.2pH. This is the point where the number of negatively charged ions is equal to the number of positively charged ions. If you think about how salt or phosphates add negatively charged ions to a brine so that the protein strands repel to allow water to flow in, the isoelectric point is where these forces cancel each other out and consequently the meat begins to squeeze out water. Note though that water loss isn't necessarily a bad thing since it can concentrate flavors like in cured meats or dry aged beef.

The truth though is marinades don't penetrate very far and on a thick or dense cut, they need to penetrate very far to denature protein. Also the salt (NaCl) and water in the marinades more or less act as a brine for larger cuts so water uptake and perceived juiciness, tenderness should increase.

The marinade you mention is your post is both high in salt and above 4.6pH, (Soy sauce around 4.6, Fish Sauce around 5.0) and is really a brine, or perhaps a cure judging by the salt content. The marinade in question is simply trying to mimic the umami (glutamate mainly) content of dry aged beef which happens during enzymatic breakdown. Beef is dense and so I doubt the marinade will travel particularly in 24 hours to have a dramatic effect assuming the cut is sufficiently thick. Hell I even think there's an MC@home recipe which does fish sauce for 5 days so you should be fine.