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Put a skirt steak in a plastic bag with a marinade and then promptly put it in the freezer. It has been in the freezer for a couple of days now. I want to thaw it out for dinner tonight, but I'm wondering if the meat has had a chance to marinate in its frozen state?

O.O
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1 Answers1

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Marinating steak - apart from very acidic marinades - will affect only the outer few mm of your meat. While these are the first to freeze, they are also the first to thaw, together with the marinade.

Your total marinating time will be 

(time until outer layer is frozen) + (time since outer layer thawed, before cooking)

Unless you flash-froze your meat and thaw in a microwave, this can be a few hours. In frozen state, marinating is basically stopped. So do the math, according to your desired total marinating time. You can always leave the meat thawing/marinating in the refrigerator for a bit longer, if neccesary.

Stephie
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    I did the math, with engineering and chemistry math - I say that marinating is still in progress in the subzero celcius freezer. It is not "stopped", just slowed. – Cynthia Sep 17 '15 at 05:53
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    @BlessedGeek: Veeeery muuuuuuuch sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooowed. To the point of stopped, for all practical purposes. – Willem van Rumpt Sep 17 '15 at 06:13
  • But with salt in it, the marinating is actually quite effective while in the freezer, over two weeks - slow gradual and even marinating action. The ionic activity of saline ice at -5 C is still quite significant. Should not confuse the ionic activity of saline vs that of plain water. – Cynthia Sep 17 '15 at 13:23
  • "To the point of stopped, for all practical purposes." You wanna take a look at the phase diagrams of saline at subzero temps before making that statement. – Cynthia Sep 17 '15 at 13:24
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    @BlessedGeek So for heaven's sake just write your own answer - we appreciate knowledge here, me included. – Stephie Sep 17 '15 at 13:26
  • @BlessedGeek: I'm sure amazement, surprise and shame will be battling it out for most surfacing emotion, if I knew what to look for in saline phase diagrams or actually knew what they are, but, like Stephie said, write up an answer, and don't be shy to highlight the practical implications of it all. Practically, for me, the continents don't move, but apparently they do. If subzero-saline-phase-diagrams show the same amount of activity as tectonic plates, I stick with my comment ;) – Willem van Rumpt Sep 17 '15 at 14:52
  • I for one hesitate to apply chemistry or engineering calculations applicable to ideal conditions to what happens in food, unless the action is actually studied or observed in food. There are a TON of potential confounds when you're considering not just ionic activity but also the interaction of other compounds and the cellular characteristics of the beef itself. – logophobe Sep 17 '15 at 16:05
  • "hesitate to apply chemistry or engineering calculations applicable to ideal conditions". Engineering is the adaptation of ideal mathematics into non-ideal situations. Otherwise, the 3GHz processor we engineered for you would not have worked. – Cynthia Sep 18 '15 at 07:19