Hi, I've got a recipe for a goat curry and I noticed that fresh tomatoes are part of the marinade ingredients. The meat is left over night to marinade. I think I remember Mamta saying somewhere that tomatoes can make the meat tough.

I'd like to hear more views on this. Cheers!

Yes, I have said that in Chicken tikka masala recipe marinade, because it happened to me a couple of times. In my experience, chicken pieces become kind of 'firm' when I add tomato marinade for more than 15-20 minutes. It seems to tenderise the chicken if you marinade for a little while, but chicken pieces toughens if left in tomato based marinade for a few hours or overnight. I am not sure why this is, because the acid in yoghurt seems to help when chicken is left in a yoghurt marinade overnight. Both are acidic.

If Lapis was here, she would have explained. Where are you Lapis?

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.