I do the same thing. Raw meat gets marinated, once the meat goes on the grill, that marinade gets thrown out and I brush with new once the meat is cooked.

Doesn't bother me any, as long as any solids like onion, ginger, whatever are strained out first.

I'm with you, Pixi, it bothers me :(

I agree with discarding the marinade! After soaking with raw meat...forget about it!

Michelle

Doesn't bother me. When you bring a marinade to a boil and cook it, I see no difference than eating the cooked meat the marinade was in. I have a favorite flank steak recipe that calls for using the same marinade after cooking as you first marinate the raw meat in.

We also reused a chicken marinade a few times... we would marinate chicken from the same batch, 5# at a time from a 25# bag of fresh chicken, adding fresh seasonings as needed. All was used within the safe time frame. Never had a problem.

Nancy

Me too. I tried to save it once, and I cooked the steak in the marinade and the marinade scorched way before the steak was finished. It was awful. I wanted to make sure the marinade was cooked because it was with the raw meat so I probably had the fire up too high. Never again. I do use fresh now for sauce instead of what the meat has been soaking in.

Yeash!! I thought you said Marmalade!...And I definitly have a thing for marmalade!
Linda C

i thought it was marmalade too.

normally i would use that marinade to baste my meat and if there is any left, boil it hard and use it.

maryanne

I read it as marmalade too. Our eyes must be going. It depends on the recipe. If the recipe says use it I do or if it says start with new batch I do. I figure whomever made up the recipe knows best.
Clare

I don't see the difference, either. The marinade is in and on the meat, it should have been in the 'fridge the entire time, so how can it matter? Do you wash the marinade off the meat before cooking? Vacuumfreak's problem was in cooking the marinade with the meat instead of separately. Boil hard with the pan juices while the meat is resting and serve it. Delicious!

I also don't understand how you could eat the meat (which still has the same marinade on it) but not eat the marinade after it has been safely cooked. What is the difference in the two portions of the marinade? One is cooked on the meat and the other on the stove.
Lisa

I'm the exact opposite. I can't stand the thought of throwing away perfectly good ingredients. Why? The marinade isn't bad, it's just uncooked. Boil it and it's perfectly fine. I make rice with it often, if it's liquid enough.

Like I said, it's just a "yuck thing" to me . . . like when people can't eat that white-thingie-blob between an egg yolk and the white :) Now, THAT doesn't bother me in the least, but raw-juiced-marinade . . . ewwwwww.

I use small amounts of marinade, so there isn't any left to worry about. If you put your meat in a ziplock bag, with about 1/4 cup marinade, then press out the air and seal, your meat will marinate beautifully, but you won't feel as if you're tossing good food, since there will be hardly any left.

Cooking only kills live bacteria. It doesn nothing to eliminate the toxins they may leave behind, so no--cooking doesn't always 'clean up' the marinade as well as you think. I would never eat marinade that has had meat soaking in it. I might, however make a large enough batch of marinade so I could put SOME in the ziplock with the meat, and safe some of the uncontaminated marinade for a sauce.

"It doesn nothing to eliminate the toxins they may leave behind"

Are your bacteria courteous enough to only poop in the marinade outside the meat and not that which is in/on the meat? LOL

I don't cook red meat, but I do use the marinades for fish and chicken for making sauces. I make sure that I bring it to a boil, and I generally thicken it with potato starch. I don't like to waste ingredients either, and I always make enough of a marinade to have some to use as a base for a sauce.

Lars

It doesn't bother me either, we usually use up the leftovers basting the meat when we cook it. You have to remember that your meat was raw before you cooked it so why can't your marinade be raw before you cook it?

I don't see any reason why marinade can't be used. What a waste to just throw all that flavor away! As long as it's cooked, it's fine.

Minsue67 summed it up nicely: You have to remember that your meat was raw before you cooked it so why can't your marinade be raw before you cook it?

Linda

For me it depends on the recipe. If it is one where I marinate the meat overnight, I discard the marinade and make fresh sauce. If it just soaks for a short while, 30 minutes or an hour, I will use the marinade if the meat cooks in it. A number of my favorite recipes use a marinade before cooking, but a different sauce after, then , of course, I dump the marinade.
This reminds me of the towel thread on the laundry forum (whether you wash towels after bathing, or reuse them several times) except that the people here are much nicer!

Ok, I shouldn't have had a sip of water in my mouth when I read the pooping bacteria commnet. Thanks for the laugh! :)

I'll use it if I've boiled it. The only difference in that and what's in the meat is one's in the bowl and one's in the meat. I'm more "squicky" about chicken than beef marinades, though.

Fenworth, go to your corner (wink).

If the meat marinating is kept in the fridge, then yes, I'll boil it and use it. I will not waste a good marinade.

Sol

Nope, can't do it either. I'm like Azzalea, I use some for marinade and reserve some for the sauce... if needed.

I remember reading somewhere that it is most unwise to reuse chicken marinades.... I would suppose that it is the salmonella pooping thing. ;-)

Well cooked marinade (in a saucepan separate from the met) .. no problem.
My problem is basting....specifically using the same brush to baste before and during cooking. I'm afraid there'd be transfer from the uncooked meat and I'd put it back on the meat during cooking. I solve this by using a clean spoon each time to baste and spread ...

I too read marmalade ... eye problem? or brain problem??
kay

I'm a tosser. I try to make just enough marinade. I like dry rubs and often use those instead.

kay - I've got that paranoia with all utensils. For instance my tongs get washed three times a night: Once after I've dropped the food in the pan, once after I've flipped it, then once at the end of the meal. It makes barbequeing a PITA since I only have one set of tools. All that running in and out...

No problem here using that marinade. Of course, I eat the beef raw anyway, so the fact that raw meat was in there doesn't put me off at all!

I do subscribe to the boil before using theory, but I can't figure out why.....

Annie

I've always thrown it out too.

If I grew my own beef (a la Annie) and knew the conditions under which it was slain and butchered, I'd still be eating steak tartar and wouldn't worry about contanimants.
Kay

Are your bacteria courteous enough to only poop in the marinade outside the meat and not that which is in/on the meat?

bwa!!!!hahahaha!!!! OMG lol

Holy cwap that made my day!!!

I love discarded marinade I consider it the equiv of saute discards that one deglazes and turns into sauce. You only need reduce and augment the marinade to make it a killer sauce. If it was worthy of hinting you protein it's worthy of being revisited as a punch up for those who would like even more flavor in my estimation :)

I've never considered "reusing" marinade. To me it's a one time use thing, after the meat is out, out it goes. If I want some more I make it fresh. But then, my marinades are fairly simple unless I've purchased them; then I hate for them to get old in the fridge as I'm not a big marinade user. Toss it now or toss it later, same difference. But, please, don't tell me about it!

I also have a problem with this.

I suppose if I boiled the "used" marinade for long enough then it would be safe, but just the thought of eating it with those meat juices running out makes me queasy.

Tosser here too.

I read it as marmalade too... that said....

I have no problems boiling and eating any marinade that the food has sat in.

How many zillion times have we marinated chicken, fish or beef in a soy/garlic/ginger/honey solution then at the end of the stir fry poured it on to make a sauce!

Alexa

Kay, if I were to raise my own beef like Annie, I don't think I could dismember them to eat'em. No, sir, couldn't do it ... that'd be my husband's job.
Until then, they'd be my pets, aptly named Sir Loin, Elvis and Motley Moo.

Btw, I'm like Fenworth in that I find myself washing all cooking utensils, as I'm using them. And yet, I'm a rebel who refuses to toss the marinade. But I think if I were that concerned, I'd never set foot in a restaurant.

Sol

sol, thanks for the name. Motley Moo, I like that!

And that's a very good point about restaurants. If we saw what went on in even the best restaurants, we'd never eat there.

Annie

my sister worked in the office at A&P ... she came really close to becoming a vegetarian.

re raising your own meat ... I had a pet chicken when I was about 8 (a very long time ago) ... she'd peck the buttons on one of my dresses until they popped open. I still have the buttons, but the pet chicken?? Mom and Dad did the dirty deed while I was at school and since we slaughtered several at once, I'm not sure if I ate part of her or not.
Kay

annalchyu, those juices that ran out are on the surface of the meat too.

I have no concerns about bacteria and toxins in reusing the marinade as long as it is boiled. I'm not always in the mood to make a sauce so sometimes I throw it out but sometimes I boil it into a sauce. Even botulism toxin (which I wouldn't expect in the marinade) is broken down by boiling, for most of the other bacteria of concern it is the bacteria not toxins that are the concern. If that wasn't the case, eating the meat would be a problem too.

Also, it depends what I've put in it. For example if it is a citrus juice based marinade, the sauce may taste better with a fresh squeeze of citrus in it instead of boiled to death citrus juice so I'd probably toss the marinade and start fresh for taste, not health reasons.

fenworth, I usually deal with the BBQ utensil issue by leaving the business end of the utensil in the BBQ so it gets heated along with the meat.