Meaning & use
marination
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Meanings
noununcountable
The act or process of leaving food in a flavored liquid before cooking so it takes on taste and becomes tender.
Grammar: Uncountable: say the marination of the chicken, not a marination.
Patterns
- the marination of something
- after/ during marination
The marination of the chicken takes at least two hours.
Long marination makes cheap cuts of meat much softer.
nouncountable or uncountable
A flavored liquid, usually acidic, in which food is soaked before cooking.
Grammar: Can be countable when you mean a particular mixture: a spicy marination.
Patterns
- make a marination
- soak something in a marination
She prepared a marination of olive oil, lemon, and garlic.
Leave the fish in this marination for thirty minutes.
Common combinations
- overnight marination
- Overnight marination gives the meat a deeper flavor.
- the marination process
- Salt speeds up the marination process.
- marination time
- Reduce the marination time for thinner slices.
- acidic marination
- An acidic marination can make fish mushy if left too long.
Synonyms and how they differ
- marinade
- The usual word for the liquid itself; 'marination' more often names the process.
- steeping
- Similar idea of soaking, but used for tea, herbs, or flavors rather than meat.
Word family
- marinate verb
- To leave food in a flavored liquid before cooking.
- marinade noun
- The liquid used for soaking food.
- marinated adjective
- Describing food that has been soaked in such a liquid.
Commonly confused: marination or marinade? marination or marination vs. maceration?
marination vs marinade
A marinade is the liquid; marination is the process of soaking in it. Many cooks use 'marinade' for both.
marination vs marination vs. maceration
Maceration also means soaking, but usually of fruit or herbs in liquid to draw out flavor or juice.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'marination' correctly.
Choose one answer.
'Marination' names a cooking process, so only the first sentence makes sense. The other options attach actions or qualities that do not fit a food-preparation process.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “marination”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.