Indian (Southern)

Over January and February of 2011, I delved into the cuisine of the southern states of India.  I was lucky to have expert knowledge of several coworkers who are from that region.  This regional cuisine is often overshadowed by northern Indian style restaurants in the US.


My references:
Cookbook author is in parentheses.   Other abbreviations:  * = a favorite; n.r. = no recipe saved

• [CP]  Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India by Chandra Padmanabhan (Sep 15, 1999)
• The most authentic South Indian recipes I could find
• [SS]  Indian Home Cooking by Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness, 2004
• attempts to simplify the recipes
• most of the regional recipes are North Indian
• several errors were found in the recipes 
• [SC]  Cuisines of India: The Art and Tradition of Regional Indian Cooking by Smita Chandra and Sanjeev Chandra (Jul 24, 2001)
• good selection of South Indian meat dishes
• long ingredient lists
• well-written recipes
• [MKM]  Curried Favors: Family Recipes from South India by Maya Kaimal (Mar 1, 2000)
• includes a significant number of North Indian dishes (despite the title)
• some of the recipe instructions seemed odd/unjustified
• the recipe titles are mostly in English only
• [MJ]  Madhur Jaffrey Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (Sep 1, 2003)
• contains lots of north and central regional (Kashmiri, Moghul, Goan, Gujarati, etc.) dishes
• simple (not excessively long) ingredient lists
• good variety of simple vegetable recipes
• provides pairings with Western cuisine dishes
• [NK]  My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking by Niloufer Ichaporia King and Alice Waters (Jun 18, 2007)

Recipe list
See scanned recipe images and dish photos in this album.

• Cooked vegetables
• * Green bean Thoren (MKM)
• Potatoes and cauliflower with peas (MKM)
• Sweet pepper Poriyal (CP)
• * Stir fried cabbage with South Indian spices (SS)
• Cabbage Poriyal (CP)
• Frozen spinach with potatoes (MJ)
• Sweet-and-sour butternut squash with ginger and chilies (SS) [n.r.]
• Pumpkin crescents with curry leaves (NK)
• Salads
• * Gujerati Carrot salad (MJ)
• Vegetable medley/salad (CP)
• Cucumber and ginger salad (NK) [n.r.]
• Fresh cucumber salad (CP) [n.r.]
• Lentils
• Spicy dhal with tomatoes (MKM)
• Moong dhal and red lentils with browned onion (MJ)
• * Spinach dhal (MKM)
• Kootu (vegetable and dhal stew) (MKM)
• Rice
• Aromatic rice (MJ)
• Pullao with peas (pilaf) (MKM)
• * Saffron rice (MKM)
• Meat and seafood
• Chicken with coconut milk (MKM)
• * Bombay-style chicken with red split lentil (MJ)
• Erra Kari (Shrimp curry with coconut, tomato and tamarind) (SC) [n.r.]
• * Meen Molee (Fish curry) (SC)
• Miscellaneous
• Green chutney (SS)
• Spiced tea (MJ)
• Ginger yogurt (MKM)
• Rava Dosa & Coconut chutney (MKM)

Jambalaya -- pork, andouille sausage, and chicken

I closed out the Creole and Cajun theme with another round of jambalaya.  The first attempt several weeks earlier was disappointing, but this time, it turned out fantastic.
My version, shown below, was based off of this recipe (pg 1, pg 2) by Rima and Richard Collins.

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3/4 pound andoulille sausage, sliced rounds
• 1 pound pork shoulder, trimmed of fat and 1/2-3/4 inch cubes
• 1/2 pounds chicken (dark meat)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3-4 cloves)
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 3 cups heated chicken stock
• 1.5 cups long grain white rice
• 2 Bay leaves
• spice blend
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• ~2 1/2 tsp salt total
• 1/2 cup sliced green onion
• 2-4 tablespoon chopped parsley

1. preheat oven to 250°
2. heat the oil in a wide, oven safe, heavy bottomed pan (need to be able to cover the pan later)
3. lightly season and brown the pork cubes for 6-8 minutes, or until the fat starts to render; add the sausage and continue to cook for a couple more minutes until the sausage begins to render its fat as well
4. scoop out the pork and sausage with a slotted fork/spoon and set aside; drain off all but 1-2 tablespoons of the fat
5. add the bell pepper, celery, onion and chicken; season with salt and pepper and cook over medium-high heat until onion has turned translucent and is starting to brown; then, add garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes
6. add the spices, pork and sausage, and rice; stir so that the rice grains get coated with fat 
7. add the hot stock, remaining ~1 1/2 tsp salt, half of the parsley, and half of the green onion
8. bring to a boil, then cover and then bake in the oven for 20 minutes
9. use a spoon to sample the rice and verify that it is done and mostly dry; if rice is not cooked through and is getting dry, add a little bit of hot water and continue to cook in oven (?); if rice is cooked through but still wet, put uncovered pan back on stovetop over low heat for a few minutes.  Careful: too much stirring at this point will lead to mushy/sticky rice.
10. add remaining parsley and green onion, and stir gently to combine
11. optional: garnish with some additional chopped parsley and/or Creole/piquante sauce

Creole and Cajun

Recently, I had the opportunity to work in a professional kitchen at Creola Bistro, which focuses mostly on Creole and Cajun food.  Inspired by all the good eats there, I decided to take a stab at making the New Orleans fare at home.  The following books were my primary sources:

• Emeril Lagasse (EL), Emeril's A new New Orleans cooking", 1993
• Williams-Sonoma (WS), "New Orleans: Authentic recipes celebrating the foods of the world", 2005
• Paul Prudhomme (PP), "Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen", 1984
• Rima and Richard Collin (RRC), "The New Orleans Cookbook", 1975
• John Folse (JF), "The Evolution of Cajun and Creole Cuisine", 1989

All recipes for the dishes below are available in this online album.  Favorites are marked with a (*).

Dish List

• Beans, beans, beans...
• Tuesday's Red Bean Soup (EL)
• * White Beans, Rice and Smoked Sausage (RRC)
• Black-Eyed Peas with Meat and Rice (RRC; EL)
• Breads and baked goods
• * Iron Skillet Cornbread (WS)
• Buttermilk Biscuits (EL)
• * Jalapeno Corn Muffins (EL)
• Hush Puppies (JF)
• Pumpkin Soufflé (RRC)
• One pot dishes (quintessential Creole/Cajun)
• Seafood Filé Gumbo (PP)
• Gumbo Z'Herbes (WS)
• * Chicken Creole Style (JF)
• * Shrimp Etouffee (RRC)
• * Pork Sausage and Chicken Jambalaya (JF; RRC) 
• Soups and sides
• Corn Maque Choux (WS)
• * Pumpkin Soup (EL)
• Stocks
• Basic Chicken Stock (EL; JF)
• Fish Stock (EL; JF)

Preparation notes

•  Tuesday's Red Bean Soup (EL)
• I pulled the skin off of the smoked ham hawks before using them; I later asked chef Caba about this and he said it was unnecessary to do so
• the beans actually took about 80 minutes to cook through
• the Andouille sausage tasted dried out in the final product.  Creola restaurant  adds their sausage at the end of the cooking process to avoid this
• I didn't use any bacon, but instead doubled the amount of ham hock (which provided a nice amount of meat as well)
• White Beans, Rice and Smoked Sausage (RRC)
• this was a hearty and comforting dish with mild smokiness and full-bodied flavor
• The chunks of meat are strewn throughout but "light"
• I scaled the recipe down by 50% and a 3 quart pot worked well
• Instead of using a "seasoning ham" and "hambone", I used to ham hock stock and meat scraps from one half of a ham hock
• Sausage-wise, I used one andouille link
• Used Safeway-brand great northern beans.  I like to disparage Safeway's quality, but it seemed to turn out okay.
• Black-Eyed Peas with Meat and Rice (RRC; EL)
• Iron Skillet Cornbread (WS)
• scale proportions by 2/3 and worked well in my 8 inch cast-iron skillet
• Seemed slightly under salted; try 1 teaspoon next time for the 2/3 scaling
• Since no sugar is added, honey or similar is needed as a garnish
• Buttermilk Biscuits (EL)
• review: decently flaky texture; housemate Mike not a fan of the slightly sour taste
• Instead of miniature biscuits, made 3 standard size biscuits (1/2" thick before cooking) with scraps left over
• Jalapeno Corn Muffins (EL)
• review: housemate Mike and I agree it was "excellent"; sweet, despite no added sugar; nice texture with contrasting chunks of corn and  K. key/crumbly cornmeal
• The Chile Pepper lost most of its kick after cooking
• Hush Puppies (JF)
• review: decent, but a little dry inside and under salted; definitely requires butter, ketchup, etc. as garnish
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt added was insufficient despite the called-for "pinch"; try 3/4 teaspoon next time
• I yielded 12 small-medium balls from a 50% scaling of the proportions
• Some fresh jalapeno or ground chili powder would be nice
• if the batter is too liquidy, it is very hard to form and maintain the ball shapes
• Pumpkin Soufflé (RRC)
• I omitted the Cointreau out of necessity; the resulting flavor was overly mild
• scaled the recipe by 50% and it fit nicely into a single ramkin and 1.5 cup gratin dish
• because of the smaller portions, I checked the ramkin for deafness after 12 minutes (very unfair-done) and begin at 25 minutes (borderline under-done still)
• The soufflés rose from about 1 inch to 2 inches before falling back to 1 1/3" couple of minutes after coming out of oven; they achieved a medium-brown color on top
• Seafood Filé Gumbo (PP)
• I scaled down the oil to 1/3 the recipe amount for "nutrition" reasons
• omitted the Tabasco sauce because it was very piquant without
• the stock:  simmered (pre-cooked) crab carcasses, 15 shrimp shells and homemade fish stock for 45 minutes; fantastic rich taste!
• the broth of the Gumbo turned out "particulate"; was this the file powder clumping together?
• Gumbo Z'Herbes (WS)
• for the greens, used kale, chard and some arugula
• salt level: close to 1 teaspoon / Qt
• Chicken Creole Style (JF)
• due to lack thereof, omitted the mushrooms, jalapeno, margarine, basil, and Louisiana Gold (used red pepper flakes instead)
• piquant level: mild, present but not distracting
• removed excess fat from dark meat beforehand, and removed about 50% of the skin; still, the final product was slightly oily
• simmered the boneless chicken breasts for 15-20 minutes and the dark meat for about one hour; perfectly cooked
• Shrimp Etouffee (RRC)
• scaled the amounts by 33% and the shrimp by 50%; yielded approximately 1.5 servings
• I used a homemade fish-shrimp stock instead of plain water
• reduced the cooking time for the shrimp from the suggested amount
• used the lower bound on the requested liquid quantity; final product still fairly runny
  
• Pork Sausage and Chicken Jambalaya (JF; RRC)
• see separate blog post
  
• Corn Maque Choux (WS)
• scaled down to 1/3; 2 servings
• Pumpkin Soup (EL)
• pre-roasted the pumpkin for one hour at 350°; then, sliced perpendicular to fibers and measured out 2.5 cups
• reduced cream to 1/2 cup
• reduced nut butter to 1/4 cup and used almond instead of peanut; diluted with liquid before adding to main pot
• added a dash of cayenne
• superb!
  
• Basic Chicken Stock (EL; JF)
• Fish Stock (EL; JF)
• my version took the common ingredients from these 2 recipes.  I used:
• 2-3 pounds of fish heads and carcasses
• 2 onions
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 carrots
• one lemon, halved
• 4 bay leaves
• 6 sprigs of parsley
• 10 peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon of thyyme
• 3-4 quarts of water
• procedure:  Blanch fish and rinse (only necessary if "off" smells present?); combine all ingredients in stockpot and bring to a boil; simmer for about 45 minutes; reduce for up to 2 hours; strain

Mashed sweet potatoes

Recipe complements of "Cooks Illustrated." It turned out fantastic --  rich flavor -- great texture.  Only potential downside:  slightly chunky in places. My only modifications:

• using 1/2 cup water instead of 3/4 cups
• 4 tablespoons of light cream

I think the amount of water could be reduced even further.  Once the potatoes were tender at around 45 minutes there was still excess moisture in the pot that needed to be evaporated off.

Italian 101

I had been avoiding this theme for some time now; mostly because it seems so commonplace, broad, and non-exotic.  With all of the tomatoes, eggplant, and summer squash in our garden, though, it didn't make sense to wait any longer.  In the end, it was a very tasty and fun several weeks of cooking and eating.

Recipe sources:

1. David Downie's "Cooking the Roman way:  Authentic recipes from the home cooks and trattorias of Rome" -- my favorite book of the bunch
2. Lidia Bastianich's "Lidia's Italy" -- good but focused on northern Italy, especially Northeast Italy
3. Marcela Hazen's "Essentials of classic Italian cooking" -- the most comprehensive of these cookbooks; unfortunately, the recipe names do not include the Italian translation
4. Biba Caggiano's "Trattoria cooking"
5. Clarissa Hyman's "Cucina Siciliana"

See this album for the recipes and photos of all of the dishes made, which I will list out here also.  The (*) symbol denotes some of my favorites:

• Primi (soups)
• * chickpea soup with porcini
• pasta and chickpea soup with rosemary and garlic
• minestrone alla Toscana (minestrone in the style of Tuscany)
• Primi (pasta)
• * linguine with clams
• * spaghetti alla amatriciana
• * pennette with cauliflower ragu
• pasta with eggplant, tomato and red chili
• spaghetti cacio e pepe (spaghetti with pepper and cheese)
• pennette with summer squash (zucchini, etc.) and ricotta
• * penne with cream sauce of ham (or prosciutto), peas, and peppers
• fresh tagliattelle with sauce of tomato and porcini
• Secondi (entrées)
• chicken cacciatore (pollo alla cacciatora)
• * coda alla vaccinara (Roman oxtail stew)
• braised pork chops with tomatoes, cream and porcini
• Contorni (vegetables and sides)
• * skillet fennel with capers
• broccoletti strascinati (boiled-sautéed broccoli rabe)
• panfried zucchini with vinegar and herbs
• * artichokes, Roman style (braised with garlic and mint)
• braised Swiss chard with cannellini beans
• gratin of artichokes
• Signor Corsi's spicy braised cabbage
• Miscellaneous
• * zucchini frittata with mint
• prosciutto with melon

General Principles:

• Primi (pasta)
• In general, stop cooking the pasta 1 minute before it reaches perfect "al dente" and finish cooking it once it has been tossed in with the sauce
• use at least 5 quarts of water to cook a standard 1 pound of dry pasta
• binders and lubricators for sauces:  diced or crushed tomato, olive oil, butter, animal fat (rendered from pancetta, etc.) cream, ricotta cheese, puréed vegetable ( e.g., roasted red pepper), pasta water, cheese ( especially Parmesan and pecorino Romano)
• cheeses should be stirred in at the very end, after pasta has been tossed with the sauce
• almost always serve grated cheese on the side
• fresh pasta is more common toward the north of Italy and dried more common toward the south
• Romans seem to be most fond of spaghetti and linguine and other long strands
• Contorni (vegetables and sides)
• Italians, especially towards Rome, love:  artichokes, fennel, broccoli (and broccoli rabe), and zucchini
• Perhaps the most common way of cooking vegetables like these is to braise or pan fry them in generous amounts of olive oil, possibly some vinegar or wine, some herbs like parsley or mint, some aromatics like garlic and onion, and maybe some red pepper

Some technical notes:

• Primi (pasta)
• linguine with clams
• used about 1.5 pounds of clams, which worked out well for 3 servings
• sauce needs salt despite no mention in the recipe
• reduced the pasta amount by 50% and the proportions seemed very nice
• didn't filter the clam juice (contrary to the recipe) and it seemed to be fine; was careful to pre-scrub the clamshells and change the soaking water several times
• was unable to perceive any hotness from the fresh chili pepper that I used (add more next time?)
• The basil is a fantastic touch
• spaghetti alla amatriciana
• fantastic; not nearly as greasy as I feared
• almost a "sweet" flavor from the guanchiale
• pennette with cauliflower ragu
• the kick from the red chili is important; don't skimp on it
• don't worry too much about cooking each of the cauliflower pieces to uniform doneness because it is nice when the sauce has some larger chunks amongst the small pieces that turn into a pulp
• pasta with eggplant, tomato and red chili
• the eggplant got overly soft during the frying process; in the sauce it almost had the same texture as the tomato -- not a good thing in my opinion
• spaghetti cacio e pepe (spaghetti with pepper and cheese)
• accidentally used a large amount of Parmesan instead of pecorino, which really doesn't have the strength of flavor needed for this simple dish
• the cheese ended up clumping terribly in the bowl and on the spoon
• would it be good to add back the pasta water after adding the cheese into the noodles?
• pennette with summer squash (zucchini, etc.) and ricotta
• used the cheaper of the 2 brands of ricotta cheese from Bianchini's ( with the built-in strainer in the tub); had to add much more water than specified (4 or 5 tablespoons)
• sauce needed salt-and-pepper despite no mention in the recipe
• used 50-50 mix of zucchini and pattypan, which worked well
• penne with cream sauce of ham (or prosciutto), peas, and peppers
• used 50-50 mix of peeled, chopped, sautéed red peppers and Trader Joe's jarred roasted, peeled peppers; the jarred ones seem to work well
• reduced the fat by roughly 1/3; was still sufficiently rich and good texture
• fresh tagliattelle with sauce of tomato and porcini
• used 50-50 mix of durum semolina and all-purpose flour
• used 2 eggs and 1 1/3 cup flour
• 2nd thinnest setting on pasta roller seemed best
• Secondi (entrées)
• chicken cacciatore (pollo alla cacciatora)
• I made the mistake of only Browning to a "brown" color instead of to a rich brown
• I used the expensive "Mary's pastured chicken" from Bianchini's market, which is supposedly truly free range 
• the meat was really not tender at all; I may have erred on the side of too short of cooking time.  Is the dark meat on the drumsticks supposed to be starting to fall off the bone?
• coda alla vaccinara (Roman oxtail stew)
• clove aroma in the sauce is fantastic
• the minced vegetables in the gravey are nice change of pace from the standard diced vegetables; it gives a more refined feel
• braised pork chops with tomatoes, cream and porcini
• used 1 inch chops instead of three-quarter inch chops
• cooked for about 45 minutes total
• the meat turned out tough and dry
• because the pan was fully covered instead of slightly ajar?
• Because I didn't flip the chops periodically?
• in any event, the sauce was fantastic
• Contorni (vegetables and sides)
• braised Swiss chard with cannellini beans
• be careful not to over cook the beans at all, otherwise they will partially disintegrate during the mixin with the other ingredients
• Signor Corsi's spicy braised cabbage
• adding some julienned carrots and sliced onion was a nice addition

Short theme: vegetable purées

Over the past two weeks I did some experimentation with vegetable purées.

General principles:

• Texture transformation:  especially in the case of the cauliflower and beets, the resulting texture is magically different -- almost unrecognizable.
• versatility:  a single purée can often be used in several of the following ways:  soup, flavoring base for pilaf-style starch (quinoa, couscous, bulgar wheat, etc.), pasta sauce, crostini spread, sauce over meat, stand-alone side dish, flavoring in salad dressing.
• fat/oil substitute:  the purée can often eliminate or reduce the need for added cream, butter, etc. in a pasta sauce or soup.

Cauliflower purée
My concoction was based closely off of this recipe.  Being without sour cream, I added 1 tablespoon of yogurt and increased the butter from 1 to 2 tablespoons and added a pinch of sugar to compensate for the sourness of the yogurt.  The result  had a nice mild flavor, yet distinctly of cauliflower.  In my opinion, the texture was not too different from nice creamy grits.  My housemate Mike was certain that it was or had potato  in it.  Next time it might be good to try it with red meat or roasted salmon.

cauliflower purée with baby potatoes and smoked salmon

Red beet purée
Tried to follow this recipe.  In the end, my mix was the following (approximately):

• 1 pound cooked beets, peeled
• one clove garlic
• dash cayenne pepper
• stems of one half bunch of coriander (about 2 tablespoons chopped)
• 12-15 leaves of mint
• 1/4 teaspoon each of cumin and coriander
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons yogurt
• Salt ( roughly 1/4 teaspoon)

The mint was very, very subtle; add more next time.  Additionally, the spice level could be boosted a bit.  Overall, the spread was excellent.  Mike gave it high marks and Michelle said it greatly exceeded her expectations.

Beet purée on crostini

Roasted red Bell Pepper purée
I made the base sauce following this basic procedure, and reduced the oil from about 1/2 cup to 3/8 of a cup.  The basic purée had a slightly "foamy" or frothy texture -- very light in density.  I did a couple of things with this pepper sauce.  First, I made a drizzle sauce for rock cod by combining approximately 5 tablespoons of the sauce base with about 2 mL of  basalmic vinegar.  I realized that lemon juice on the fish does not combine well with the bitterness of the roasted pepper.  Also, it's imperative that the sauce and fish be served very hot.  Otherwise, I thought it worked well.   Secondly, I used about 2 tablespoons of the sauce as a flavor base for quinoa.  Finally, I mixed it with a bit of lemon juice and water to make a salad dressing, which worked out decently.

Roasted red pepper sauce over pan-fried rock cod and cilantro

Sweet pea custard/timbale
The recipe comes from "The modern vegetarian" by Maria Elia.   See the recipe in the image below.  I reduced the cream by about  30%.  The texture of the custard was nice and delicate, much like a soufflé.  The little pieces of pea were definitely distinguishable since I used a food processor instead of a blender.  The egg flavor was prominent alongside the pea and mint.  We discovered that it is definitely better served warm than chilled.

Sweet pea custard

Recipe for Sweet pea custard

Summer squash sauce
This was my one true improvisational work amongst these 5 vegetable purées.  I couldn't find many recipes out there for sauces of summer squash.  There are many that use butternut squash or other winter squashes; for example, this one.  The general template seems to be: the squash, olive oil, aromatics, spice (e.g., nutmeg), herbs and cheese or cream.  With a base sauce of zucchini and patty gold squash, I made a portobello mushroom dish and two different pasta dishes.  Ingredients for the basic sauce were:

• one large zucchini
• An equal mass of patty gold squash
• About one cup of chicken broth
• one medium onion
• one garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon  olive oil
• 1 tablespoon thyme leaves
• ~25 basil leaves, coarsely chopped
• dash of nutmeg
• 4 teaspoons cream
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice, or to taste

Portobello mushroom with squash sauce

Fusilli with bacon, mushroom, black-eyed peas and squash sauce

The portobello dish did not work well with the sauce -- it just had too strong of a flavor for the mild squash, and the texture was not a very good match either.  The first fusilli pasta had the additional ingredients of bacon, portobello mushroom, and black-eyed peas.  I thought it worked well with the possible exception of the black-eyed peas, which have a strong flavor as far as beans go.

The second pasta dish had shrimp seasoned with a little Hungarian paprika, julienned red bell pepper, and garlic added to the base squash sauce.  This turned out to be my favorite of the three summer squash sauce  dishes I made.

Fusilli with shrimp and red pepper

Marinating

Over the past 2 weeks I did a handful a dishes involving marinating (red meat, chicken, seafood, tofu, and vegetables).  Marinating serves three main purposes: first, to infuse flavor, secondly, to increase the perceived tenderness of the item, and thirdly, to increase the moisture content in the item.  I say "perceived tenderness" because several sources claim that the acid of a marinade doesn't actually significantly break down the item, but rather increases saliva production in our mouths, which contains a large amount of enzyme that actually does break down the item.

Generalizing a marinade
In my mind, there are 4 main aspects of a marinade mixture: salt, acid, duration  (of soaking the meat, tofu, etc.) and other flavoring ingredients.

• Salt:  increases moisture/juiciness of the meat and adds flavor, obviously.   In my recipes here, the salt concentration is generally between 3 and 8%, going up as high as 10% for Alton Brown's shrimp brine and also for the Mediterranean chicken marinade.
• Acid:  increases perceived tenderness of the meat.  In the recipes here, the concentration of acidic ingredient (citrus juice, vinegar, etc.) in the marinade  is usually around 35% and goes as low as 20% for the teriyaki and somewhat higher for the marinated vegetables.
• Duration:  obviously, the longer it soaks, the stronger the flavor and more tender/juicy the meat.  On the flipside, if it sits too long, it it will become too salty or overly acidic or will start to break down and become mushy.   In the recipes here, the duration is usually between 4 and 24 hours (and less than 1 hour for the seafood).  In general, the thicker the piece of meat, and the more surface area there is, the longer the duration should be.
• Other flavorings/ingredients: some of the ingredients that kept reappearing in the recipes here include: chopped herbs, spices, garlic/ginger/shallots, chile/pepper,  flavored oils, soy, mustard.