By: Kate M. Serrano
Nothing beats a cold bottle and a hot steak on the grill. What’s more cool is pouring the cold one on your meat before grilling also has a positive effect on health.
Using beer as flavor base of marinade dates back to the old Egyptian and
Mesopotamian days. Both civilizations are advanced and archaeological evidence
suggests their cuisine was rich and flavourful. A tough steak can be extremely
difficult to chew. Beer allows you to enjoy the once tough leaner cuts as its
alcohol content helps tenderize the meat by breaking down its proteins. The
longer the steaks marinate in beer, the more meat proteins dissolve, and the
more tender the steaks become. Plus, the
beer combined with citrus juices or vinegar will make the tenderizing process
faster than with just the beer alone. Of course beer marinade doesn’t only work
on steak and meat. Wheat or white beers can be used to steam hot dogs or to base
sauces for steaks. Also, flavoured beers like apricot or lime are good choices
when paired with sauces or marinades of the same flavor.
And here is the good part. According to the American Chemical Society’s
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, marinating with beer reduces
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These are the deadly carcinogens that
form on meat cooked on a grill or barbeque. Limited exposure to PAHs mean
limited exposure to cancer. In an experiment conducted by researchers, they
found that dark beers reduced net PAHs by 53 percent. This is twice the effect
compared to results from a non-alcoholic pilsner, which reduced only 25 percent.
So next time you plan on a barbeque party, keep in mind that beer-bathed
pork and beef may look as healthy as it tastes. Just make sure not to drink the
marinade.
