Marinating Meat with Beer: Slow Cook and Hold
Many cooks like to marinate their meat with beer. However, in order to get the full benefit of a beer-based marinates, certain steps must be followed.
First, you need to choose the right beer. All beers have certain enzymes that have the potential to tenderize a tough cut of meat. However, not all beers are created equal, Light beer does not add a lot of flavor to the meat. Heavy, dark beers add a little too much, often bitter. The best sort of beer to soak your meat in would be an amber or nut brown ale, not too light and tasteless but not too dark and bitter.
Marinating with Beer
Second. using beer alone is insufficient to enhance the flavor of the meat. The beer is more like a base for other ingredients. If you want your meat to have an Asian flavor, try soy sauce, ginger, and other Asian spices. For an Italian twist, garlic, rosemary, basil, oregano, and other similar spices will do nicely. For a more American flavor, barbecue sauce is ideal. You might even experiment with a Tex-Mex approach by adding some packaged taco seasoning.
Slow Cook and Hold
Third, use a plastic bag to marinate your meat. A plastic bag is ideal because you can push out all of the air and leave just the liquid and the meat to interact with one another. You should leave your meat to soak up the liquid for at least an hour.
Finally, cooking the meat with or without the marinate depends on the method. If you stew or braise the meat, leave the liquid in. If you fry, sauté, or grill the meat, drain the liquid off and pat the meat dry. For the latter methods, consider reducing the liquid on a stovetop and then using it as a sauce to be served along with the main meat dish.
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