Have you ever been through this? You want to make a recipe with chicken legs, but your recipe said they needed to marinate. When it comes to marinating there are so many options it can be overwhelming.

One of the most common used marinades – a very basic one too – combines an acid ingredient, such as a vinegar, with a fat ingredient, such as olive oil, and seasoning – spices, herbs, or any combination that make the mix very flavourful. For this reason, the number of combinations is endless.

Another important thing to keep in mind is to mix all the ingredients well (you can use a blender or simply shake them in a jar).

Timing is important. Remember the recipe that asks for chicken to be marinated? The best part about this is that beef needs lengthy marinades, but chicken actually does well with little time. Up to two hours and it’s more than enough.

Remember the following tips when marinating chicken: use one cutting board only for the chicken, and another for the ingredients; place the chicken and the marinade in a closed glass or ceramic container; the chicken should marinate in the refrigerator; slash your chicken joints with a sharp knife, as this creates more surface area for the marinade to work on. It will also help the chicken cook more quickly – the longer you cook it, the drier it will become. Because marinades give mostly surface flavours, choose how to cook your chicken to make the best of them. High heat will caramelize sugars, so barbecuing, grilling, pan-frying and roasting will transform a marinade into a delicious crust.

Here’s one (of the many) marinade recipes we like: Mediterranean marinade. Ingredients include olive oil, garlic, lemon zest/juice, oregano, pepper, dried red chilli.