Beer & barbecue … and the evening is saved!
It’s Saturday morning and I’m still sitting at the breakfast table, scrolling through the Pinterest feed. But in my thoughts I’ve already arrived at the next meal, which is dinner. I urgently need inspiration for the evening with my friends, which is why I’m looking for the ultimate recipes to this end.
And there I come across the following quote: “BEER – because you don’t win friends with salad.” When I picture in my mind the convivial (and probably ravenous) horde whom I shall be hosting tonight, then I have to admit: the quote has a definite point! Not least because I’ve promised to serve up a cornucopia of culinary delights, a bowl of salad isn’t going to send them into raptures. So what now? No problem: you just invite them over for beer & barbecue. 🙂
Beer & barbecue, in purely rhetorical terms they go together really well, wouldn’t you say? But careful, going together is not the same as throwing together. Because lots of people, you see, bring beer into direct contact with the meat by pouring the former over the latter while it’s cooking. This is a widely shared fallacy, and a definitely sub-optimal method of grilling, counsels BBQ professional Tom Heinzle. Beer contains too many bitter substances, so that in his opinion it’s not particularly well suited for pouring over steaks, sausages and the like. As a separate accompaniment, however, (and here he is surely not alone) he is adamant in refusing to do without the amber nectar.
Lesson Number One (“Don’t just pour beer over it”) I have now taken on board. The next thing I think of is a beer-based marinade, because somehow I’m clinging to the idea of directly combining beer with barbecuing. And there’s nothing at all revolutionary about drinking beer separately, I freely admit. So because I’m always receptive to anything new in the culinary field, I ventured upon a marinade based on bock beer…
Ingredients (8 persons):
- 1 litre of dark bock beer
- 8 large tablespoons of sweet mustard
- 200 g of dark chocolate
- 8 tablespoons of oil
- spices of your choice (salt, pepper, chilli, garlic)
Preparation:
First of all, grate the dark chocolate (with a mixer). Then add mustard and oil and the chocolate to the beer, and flavour to taste with the spices. Place the meat in the beer-based marinade for a few hours so that it can absorb the flavours properly.
… and I believe the result will look (I mean taste) just great 🙂
To judge by the empty plates, my “beery” experiment turned out a complete success.
You’re still uncertain about what you’re going to put on the grill today? Then give the beer-based marinade a try. Or stay with the traditionalists and enjoy your beer as a chilled accompaniment! Whatever your choice, have a great evening! 🙂
