Revised as of
8 Dec 2022
Free Self-Editing Tip, #671
marinade vs marinate
Credit to: Easy Chicken Wing Marinade by Simple Marinade Meals courtesy of Reddit, via GIPHY.
Make this marinade in a baggie and marinate these wings in it.
I love hunting down recipes on Google, and I always check out the reviews to discover what others have tried and changed. And it drives me nuts when people say they put the meat in a marinate. No. Just . . . no.
One can never ever put meat in a marinate. It’s a verb. Strictly a VERB. Now, marinade is a noun, and you can use it as a verb, although NEVER as an intransitive verb. Keep that in mind.
In fact, you may want to reserve the marinade for use as a noun only and use marinate any time you need the verb version, just to ensure you’re not mixing up those intransitive and transitive verbs.
Remember: one puts meat into a marinaDe to marinaTe it for χ amount of time, but never “put meat into a marinate”.
Psst, have you tried marinating your chicken in a 3% salt solution? Oh. My. God. What it does for the flavor and moistness! Thanks to my nephew Sol for that tip!!
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Marinade | Marinate |
|---|---|
Guy Kawasaki’s Famous Teriyaki Sauce by startcooking kathy & amandine is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt. — All the ingredients for a marinade. |
Marinating the Beef by adactio is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt. — Just looking at this beef marinating in the marinade is making me hungry. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun; Verb, transitive
Plural for the noun: marinades Third person present verb: marinades |
Verb, intransitive & transitive
Third person present verb: marinates |
| Noun: A sauce, typically made of oil, vinegar, spices, and herbs, in which meat, fish, or other food is soaked before cooking in order to flavor or soften it
Verb, transitive: |
Verb, intransitive: [Of food] Undergo soaking in a marinade Verb, transitive: |
| Examples: | |
| Noun: Oh, yeah, I used this great marinade for that pork tenderloin. We made this chicken marinade with mangoes in it. Don’t forget to strain the marinade and reserve the solids to use later. “Allows you to marinate in minutes rather than hours — the vacuum pulls open the muscle fibers to let the marinade in” (McArdle). Don’t reuse the marinade from raw meat or poultry on cooked food unless it’s boiled first to destroy any harmful bacteria. Verb, transitive: The meat had been marinated in an herbs-and-cheese marinade overnight. If you ask some cooks today why they marinade, they will tell you that it’s to add flavor. I had marinaded it in orange juice, marjoram, and chives. |
Verb, intransitive: We marinated in a red wine vinegar. Marinate or dredge in flour, salt, and pepper. Leave the meat in a cool place to marinate overnight. Turn the bag a number of times, and let it marinate for several hours or even overnight in the refrigerator. Allow the lamb to marinate in the refrigerator overnight. Verb, transitive: Either marinate them or dredge them in flour, salt, and pepper. Some recipes state to marinate meat and poultry for several hours or days, either to tenderize or add flavor. Meat, chicken, and fish are often marinated in a paste of raw ginger and garlic before cooking. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Noun: marination | |
| History of the Word: | |
| The 1680s (as a verb), from the French, which is from the Spanish marinada, via marinar meaning pickle in brine, from marino.
The noun version came a bit later, 1704, from the French marinade meaning spiced vinegar or brine for pickling, which is from mariner meaning to pickle. |
Earlier than marinade, it’s from 1635–45, from the Italian marinare meaning pickle in brine or from the French mariner, from marine meaning brine. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Marinade versus Marinate
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: marinade, marinate
McArdle, Megan. “The 2012 Holiday Kitchen Gift Guide.” The Daily Beast. 12 Dec 2012. Web. n.d. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-2012-holiday-kitchen-gift-guide?source=dictionary>.
Oxford Dictionaries: marinade, marinate
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Easy Chicken Wing Marinade by Simple Marinade Meals courtesy of Reddit, via GIPHY, <https://giphy.com/gifs/recipes-meals-marinade-eX1WbuUYp2ICs>.
