This is purely from a home cooking perspective. Experimenting on the ingredients for Limp Marinade has always been sort of a hobby of mine. It will always be a mixture of some sort of oil, acid, sugar, salt, spices, and herbs – it’s the type of these and the amount per ingredient that I tweak every time. Recently, I’ve been adding coffee in the marinade so now I can say I’m cooking “Grilled” Liempo marinated with Coffee.

This is not a recipe. The latest marinade I made combined the following:

• Store bought Chili Oil (this one not too spicy and has garlic bits integrated in it), made sure to include a good amount of the oil itself;
• Some fresh siling labuyo;
• Low sodium Soy Sauce (available in a lot of major groceries nowadays);
• Cane Vinegar and Apple Cider Vinegar;
• Pocari Sweat, because it was the closest thing to soda that I had;
• Some of the coffee I brewed earlier in the day;
• A little Sesame Oil;
• A few dried Laurel/Bay Leaves;
• A handful of crushed, fresh garlic cloves;
• Salt and freshly cracked pepper

Now, I know that some of these ingredients are too specific and probably too – I want to say snooty. These are the things we have at home, partly for health reasons for people in their thirties. I eyeball the amount of each ingredient I add, basing it on my understanding of how they taste and by experience of making these marinades. Again, this is not a recipe for “Grilled” Liempo marinated with Coffee.

I make sure to have the meat marinating for at least 2 hours before cooking it. If I’m using a lot of new ingredients combinations, I’ll “Grill” a relatively small piece early on so I can taste and adjust if necessary. Ideally, really, is to let the meat marinate for 24 hours. The marinade is both to add flavor and to tenderize the meat to make cooking it easier.

I’ve had to scale back on the use of the vinegars since I’ve started adding coffee. Speaking of Coffee, you can add whatever coffee you have ready and although I have not tried it, plain cold brew would be perfect for this purpose. See, I’ve started to notice that using coffee with a good body and balanced acidity works best. I’ve shared on my stories that an uncle from the States sent us a bag of pre-ground Starbucks coffee. I brewed that using a Standard Aeropress recipe, set aside most of it to cool down to room temp, and added that as one of the last ingredients to the marinade. I’ve tried some more expensive coffee before and well, like using wine for cooking, the concept of diminishing returns applies to “Grilled” Liempo marinated with Coffee.

So, how did it taste? Delicious. The meat was juicy. It was salted just right, just a tingling of spice, the acidity really helped cut down the fat from the meat (the actual fat, I don’t eat anymore), and the slight bitterness from the char would have been perfect – if there was some sweetness. Using Pocari Sweat helped with the saltiness, but it does not deliver so much in adding sweetness like some sort of fruit-based soda. Personally, I like using Royal Tru-Orange (think Fanta). Fruit -based sodas are what I recommend to use, not cola or root beer. I’ve also tried Ginger Ale, and it was worse than using Pocari Sweat. Also, note the I’ve been calling it as “Grilled” Liempo marinated with Coffee because I didn’t actually Grill it. I “Grilled” the meat using a Double Pan. Yes, it’s a Happy Call.

I can use more acidic, fruity coffee but I might have to ditch the vinegars altogether. That might also mean I’ll have to ditch the Soy Sauce and just use more salt. I’ll also make sure to have Royal handy. Just some thoughts, you can share yours about it in the comments section below. But yeah, that’s the “Grilled” Liempo marinated with Coffee by shareyourkape.

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