Cooking Tips & Tricks | Allegro Marinade
Allegro Tips & Tricks from our Award-Winning Cooking Team

Cooking Tips & Tricks

Cooking with Allegro Marinades is an excellent way to revamp your favorite meal or try out a new Allegro recipe! We've pulled together helpful tips & tricks from our top chefs to make your marinade experience the best it can be!

Marinades

A marinade is a mixture of acid, salt, and spices that is used on meat and foods to add flavor and soften textures. Marinades do not soak into the whole cut of meat or other foods; it only affects the surface of the food.

Marinating is a Science.

Marinades break down the proteins on the surface of meat to make it more tender. The result is a nice bit of tenderizing, flavor penetration.

Allegro makes two kinds of marinades and they work somewhat differently, but the results are the same: They make your food tender (fall off the bone tender) and bring out the flavor.

When Marinating remember to:
Allegro Safety Tip: Always marinate under refrigeration.
Allegro Safety Tip: Do not reuse marinades that have been exposed to raw meat.
Allegro Safety Tip: Any open bottles of unused marinade should be refrigerated.

Enzyme Marinades

These are usually made with some sort of fruit that have the enzyme protease, which breaks down meat proteins. Our Teriyaki Marinade is an example of an Enzyme type marinade.

Allegro Tip about Enzyme Marinades: Don’t leave your meat in it too long or it can turn mushy or jelly like. This is because the Enzymes have worked overtime and over tenderized your meat. We recommend 2-4 hours for smaller cuts of meat and 6 hours to overnight for larger cuts of meat. Anything over 12 hours can cause your meat to have the mushies!

Acidic Marinades

This type of marinade uses acids (like lime juice) to breakdown proteins and tenderize your meat. Again, we recommend 2- 4 hours of these marinades for smaller types of meats and no more than 12 hours on larger cuts of meat. Allegro’s acidic based marinades are: OriginalGame TameHot and SpicyHickory Smoke and Nashville Hot.

Allegro Tip about Acidic Marinades: Over or longer marinating with an acidic type of marinade can cause your meat to get tough and lose flavor.

Sauces

Why is a sauce different from a marinade? Sauces are meant to be used during the cooking process to add flavor to dishes or enjoyed when you are eating the food. Allegro makes three BBQ sauce flavors: OriginalSpicy and Honey and the Gold Buckle Brisket & Fajita Sauce.

We recommended picking your favorite and letting it add flavor to your dishes. Most people put a sauce on pulled meats, sandwiches (such as chicken, ribeye steaks, pork tenderloin and hamburgers), and fajitas. But one of our customers loves using the Spicy BBQ sauce as his pizza sauce. No matter if it’s used as a condiment on a sandwich, used to baste meat during cooking/grilling or on your pizza Allegro’s line of sauces will help make food taste better!

Allegro Flavored Sauces
Allegro Tip about SaucesUse the combination of marinades and sauces for tender deliciousness. Marinate your chicken in Original and then use the Original BBQ Sauces to baste while grilling! OOMPH! Allegro Makes Life TASTE Better!

Vegetables

Not just for Meats Anymore, Veggies Deserve the Love, Too!

Better Beans—Really!

Green Beans
Dash some of our ALLEGRO Original Marinade or Brisket and Fajita Sauce in with your green beans as they cook. A great way to add unique, mouth-watering flavor!

Southern Soup Beans
Otherwise known as Great Northern, these beans are a staple of the South. Soak dried beans overnight and cook slowly (add ham pieces if that’s your thing) until they reach perfect tenderness. Most Southern cooks spice with black pepper and red pepper flakes. Keep enough water in the pot as they continue to absorb, and let them have some ALLEGRO Hot & Spicy or Nashville Hot Marinade as they simmer to make sure they get the heat you like!

Steaming or Stir Frying Veggies

Give them an ALLEGRO Boost!

Stir Fry Secret
Start with ALLEGRO Teriyaki Marinade in your wok. You won’t be sorry—great oriental taste, and so easy!

Steaming with Flavor
From greens to asparagus and beyond, empower the steam by dosing the water generously with the ALLEGRO Marinade of your choice. You won’t believe the flavor difference you can achieve in very little time!

Remember the Rice!

Mexican Rice
Use ALLEGRO Nashville Hot Marinade in the water while preparing whole grain rice. Lively taste in every grain!

Oriental Rice
Fried or steamed, ALLEGRO Teriyaki Marinade in the prep will help you achieve the perfect delish dish!

Any Rice
Serving rice or over rice? Whatever type of rice you use or whatever your method to prepare, infuse it with your favorite ALLEGRO Marinade flavor!

Serving Suggestions

Allegro Marinating Cooking Tips Chart

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