Even though this is one of the coolest summers in California that I can remember, there’s still plenty of great grilling weather left in the season, whether in your backyard or at the local park. It’s fairly well established that the best beverage to pair with whatever comes off your grill is beer. But there are several more ways that beer can enhance your grilling experience.
Marinate in beer
One of the best ways to ensure your meat or fish is juicy, tender and flavorful is to marinate it in beer, letting it soak up the liquid before you throw it on the grill. When I was younger and loath to do anything too complicated in the kitchen, I would simply soak my steak overnight in a dark beer, like a porter or stout. It worked pretty well because beer is not as acidic as vinegar and did a better job of tenderizing the meat.
Using beer as the main ingredient in your marinade and adding whatever else the recipe calls for is a foolproof way to up your grilling game. Which marinade recipe? There are too many to pick from, but you can’t go wrong by finding one you like and substituting beer for whatever acidic ingredient is called for (like vinegar, lemon juice, wine, etc.). Or make your own recipe. Marinades consist of a few basic types of ingredients: something acidic, something enzymatic with a neutral pH (like fruit, ginger, yogurt, etc.) and seasonings like herbs, spices, oil, and/or salt. Once you have your beer marinade, soak your meat or fish in it for a few hours or overnight before grilling it.
If you’re pressed for time and are cooking with a pan, pour in a can or bottle of beer, and cook your meat in it. This works for any kind of sausage and is also great with pork chops, ribeye steak or similar cuts of meat. Again, I’ve had great success with darker beers, but anything that’s not too hoppy works well.
While grilling, you can add beer as an ingredient in a marinade, as part of a basting process or as a spritz solution, among other options. (Courtesy Getty Images)
Baste with beer
Another simple way to enhance your grilling is to baste the meat, poultry or fish. Simply take your beer or beer marinade and brush the liquid with a basting brush onto the meat while it cooks on the grill. If you don’t have a brush, you can just drizzle it onto the meat as you go. The key is to keep it from drying out. Basting works especially well if you’re pan-frying the meat and reapplying the liquid each time you turn it over.
Spritz with beer
This may be the easiest way to add a little beer goodness to whatever you’re cooking on the grill. Simply fill a spray bottle with a malt-forward beer and spray it on the meat as it cooks. This works best towards the end of the cooking process because it keeps the meat moist as it’s getting drier and also adds the flavors of the beer just before you pull it off the heat.
Beer-soaked wood chips
This one requires some pre-planning and is probably more aimed at the serious grillmaster, but it can yield some amazing results. If you’re smoking your meat on wood chips, first soak them in beer. This will slow the combustion rate of the fire and the cooking process, adding smoke and beer flavor over a longer cooking time. While not everyone agrees that this is a good idea, it can work well in limited circumstances. Try only soaking the wood chips for around 30 minutes to ensure the wood will still burn properly while still adding the beer flavors to the meat. Only do this with smaller wood chips, unless you’re using a cedar plank to cook fish with, then definitely soak that type of wood in beer first to avoid over-cooking your salmon or other seafood dish.
Smoking meat? Consider soaking some small wood chips briefly in beer. Alternatively, just top your grilled goods with barbecue or steak sauce made with beer or sold at a brewery. (Courtesy Getty Images)
Beer steak and BBQ sauces
While A-1 is the best-selling steak sauce, there are countless others. Many restaurant chains sell their own proprietary sauce, such as Texas Roadhouse or Peter Luger Steak House, and there are also several big breweries that make them, too, like Budweiser, Guinness, and Yuengling. Several smaller ones also make a brewery beer sauce, such as Shipyard Brewing and Sprecher Brewing. Even though Mendocino Brewing Co. is out of business, you can still find its Red Tail Ale BBQ Sauce at local grocery stores.
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Then there are hot sauces. Many breweries make one, such as Sierra Nevada, Ommegang and The Alchemist. Beyond that, many sauce companies make sauces with beer, and one even collaborated with a brewery to create Bull’s-Eye Guinness Beer Blend BBQ Sauce. Any well-stocked specialty food store is likely to have several. And perhaps best of all, while you might not be able to have their beer shipped to California, you can order any brewery’s sauces online.
Consider topping off whatever grilling method you use by also drinking more beer. That will give you a tasty feedback loop of beer in every bite and sip. Happy grilling!
Contact Jay R. Brooks at [email protected].
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