Sweet and Spicy Lime Marinade

Total time:  2 minutes, plus marinate and cook time.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons spicy vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon minced ginger or 2 teaspoons ginger powder
juice of one lime

Mix them up, marinate for 20 minutes to 24 hours.

This is my favorite for “I don’t know what I want to do for dinner” flavor. I can easily add something else to give it a different accent (turmeric and cumin for Indian, cumin and ancho or chipotle for Mexican, etc)… but this is the very basic.

Something to keep in mind when you make any marinade: You need an acid and an oil. You can use any type of oil (peanut for Asian dishes is a neat touch), and any kind of breakdown compound (vinegar, lemon, lime, wine, etc). The purpose is to take a tough meat and make it tender. If it’s chuck roast you want to soften up, you should probably slice against the grain into small pieces and marinade for several hours. If it’s chicken, 20 minutes to 2 hours normally does the trick.