Can I pick up on Winton's post in a separate forum when he wrote:

Winton

19/7/2012 10:55am

I understand that so much depends on how acidic the marinade actually is. Most marinades will tenderise for a few hours then the reverse happens and the meat can toughen.

Yoghurt is acidic (dairy based marinades,) but nowhere as acidic as vinegar/tomato based marinades. The canning process can make tomatoes far more acidic than fresh.

Meat marinating is a yoghurt based one should sit comfortably in the 'fridge overnight (but always bring it back up to room temperature before cooking.)

Oil based marinades are a different kettle of fish (literally.) Too acidic a marinade would actually start 'cooking' the fish so should only be used for a short time.

TO REPLY:

I completely agree with Winston but would add that the source of your meat makes a difference. Meat from a supermarket may well need different marinating from meat from a High Street Butcher. Supermarket meat, while being considerably less flavoured, may contain a degree of water content so that marinating could extract the water content of the mear and lead to a dilution of your efforts.

Also, and this is my personal opinion, I'd be prepared to marinate a butcher bought meat (pork,lamb or beef) for a Vindaloo (an oil based marinade) for up to 3 days. For a yoghurt based recipe requiring the same meat I'd really only think of an overnight marination at most.

I'd be glad to hear about your recommendations.

Regards,

Martin

I didn't know that meat could toughen if marinated for too long. I use Mamta's yoghurt-based marinade (tandoori chicken)for chicken thighs, which we do in the oven and then pop on the barbecue. I've never used a marinade for vindaloo, since it's essentially a slow-cooking stew.

Phil

The better quality of the meat the less you would need to marinade it as you would not want to loose it natural flavour. The cheaper the meat the longer you want to marinade it to give it some flavour!

re quality of meat: even the 'same' cut can vary in quality from one supermarket to another. We should really use butcher shops, here in the south of France, but we don't. The best beef we've found here, especially stewing beef, comes from the Charolais breed.