The Marinade | Eme's Kitchen Experience

A marinade is a seasoned, often acidic mixture in which food is steeped or soaked, usually to flavor and prepare it for cooking. This can be done by allowing something to absorb the sauce or flavored mixture.

Usually, chicken gives off a better flavour if marinated first before it undergoes any form of cooking. The longer the time spent in the marinade, the more potent the flavouring and deeper the taste of the chicken becomes. The concentrated flavours of the spices releases the umami of the chicken, giving every bite a piquant taste.

Whenever I want to prepare chicken, I focus more on the marinade, if I can get the marinade right, I've gotten the taste of the chicken right. No matter how well bred any chicken is, it has an ordour that can only be shushed when marinated in the right condiments. A piece of chicken would be bland and lacking in aroma if not steeped into a marinade and allowed enough time to soak in all the flavors.

To prepare a chicken marinade for peppered-chicken, my foundational condiments are a blend of assorted peppers like habanero, scotch bonnet and bell peppers, onions, ginger, garlic, boulion cubes, lemon juice, ground spices, few spoons of olive oil and salt. Although the ingredients change depending on the taste aimed for, but as a rule of thumb, the chicken must sit in the marinade for a time commensurate with its size. No peice of chicken and in fact every type of meat went from farm to plate without undergoing a process that seasons it.

Likewise mankind, despite the breeding we have received through upbringing, education, civilisation, religion and personal values, our lives are still lacking in taste without Jesus. Jesus Christ is the marinade that releases the flavours in a person's life. Unlike a chicken marinade that requires reinforcements after long hours to sustain its initial taste, Jesus is so divine, alive and active that whenever we taste, we see He is good. The condiment that makes Jesus such an effective marinade is His word, which is why the Scriptures recommend the word of Christ to dwell in us richly.

We are all in need of a flavour-ful life, we desire the fragrance of a life full of purpose and great success. In fact, many of us have thought of ways to keep our lives clean and focused on the attainments we want. The psalmist had the same need, he was young and considered means of having an accomplished life. His findings came to a realization in Psalm 119:9,11 "How can a young man live a clean, fragarant, purposeful life? It is by taking heed according to your word... Your word have I soaked into my heart, that I might not sin (loose my tastiness)..."

Our cleansing from sin and sanctification is made possible by the word of God (Jesus). It is an unfortunate thing when a life has not experienced this robust seasoning found only in Jesus, such a life is devoid of satisfaction. It may appear big and thriving but a bite into it both by the same person or by others around will reveal how bland and unappetizing it really is.

Dear reader, our lives can only carry the fragrance of Christ when we commit ourselves to soaking Him in through His word. The longer our heart sips in the word of Christ, the tastier our life becomes. If the only time we get to douse in the word of Christ is limited to Sunday Church gatherings or random messages, you will never get tasty enough for this life and for eternity. 

Lately, I marinated some chicken, got it deep fried then progressed to make peppered-chicken with it. I could taste the spiciness of the marinade in the bone marrow of the chicken. This scrumptious chicken was paired with some oven roasted sweet potatoes and enjoyed as dinner. 

Like that piece of chicken massaged into a marinade, allow your heart to be penetrated by the word of God. For the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword or chicken marinade. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together and it judges the desires and thoughts of the heart. It is to your advantage to be seasoned with Him, for only Jesus can guarantee a tasty life in this time and in the time to come.

Please get in touch with Jesus, become more acquainted with Him. Make Him your marinade, He is the seasoning that will not leave your life tasting the same.