TFK Does Local: FATBOY Marinade
TFK recently partnered with Somerville-based FATBOY Marinade to try this local favorite, breaking out the grill on a blustery March night. Touted as being “habit-forming,” FATBOY is the brainchild of Karl Dias, a Somerville resident and self-proclaimed grill master. He says FATBOY is great on everything from pork and beef to chicken and steak, with some adventurous fans expanding their repertoire to include “giraffe, yak, and emu.”
You can find a slew of recipes on the FATBOY website for both indoor and outdoor cooking. As for TFK, we took our two bottles and divvied them up between 2 lb. of steak tips (Karl’s personal favorite) and good old fashioned chicken breasts.
As per Karl’s suggestion, we let our meats marinate in the fridge overnight – he also says that the longer you can let everything sit together, the better, because it allows the FATBOY to really get in there and tenderize the meat while imparting its signature flavor.
The sweet, slightly tangy FATBOY really worked well with our grilled chicken – the meat came out nicely tender and had a great char thanks to the sugars at work. Our steak tips, which we purchased from a local butcher who we usually have great success with, were unfortunately pretty tough and chewy – even an overnight soak in the FATBOY wasn’t enough to loosen these little guys up. Next time, we’d purchase our steak tips from The Meat House(who coincidentally sells FATBOY in their Arlington store) – their meat is always top quality and would probably make better use of FATBOY’s honeyed flavor.
Next time you’re ready to fire up the grill or warm up the oven, pick up a couple bottles of FATBOY and try them for yourself. We also heard of folks using it as a sandwich sauce instead of a marinade, so you have lots of options. And if not, there’s always “the ever fabulous FATBOY Martini – 1 tbsp. of FATBOY to every 6 oz. of vodka.” Adventurous!
FATBOY can be found at local markets throughout Massachusetts or from Amazon for around $5 a bottle.
