OK, we’re all familiar with beer’s intoxicating properties. Most of us are familiar with beer’s use as a hair rinse (personally haven’t tried it, might someday)
But have you ever thought of using beer as a base for a marinade? I do it on a regular basis. Right now, I’m munching a lamb chop simmered in beer with salt, garlic powder, rosemary and sage. (I ran out of soy sauce) It’s very tasty. Somehow, it brings the seasonings together with the meat without adding a, um, beery taste to the meat.
Some bbq aficianados swear by steaming chicken in beer before throwing it on the grill, apparently there are enzymes in beer that tenderize the meat.
Let’s hear it for beer. A beverage, and so much more.
I’ve never seen it as a hair rinse but they say it’s good as a light hairspray or something of the sort. I have really long hair, down to about mid-thigh and yet using beer mized with a little water and curlers the two hair stylists managed to get my hair tightly curled to mid back length and to stay that way for two days. It works very very well and the alcohol and smell go away when you blow dry it.
And of course, we must never forget that (according to many archæologists) beer was the reason humankind abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and took up agriculture.
The world has never been the same since. Urrrp! [sub]S’cuse me![/sub]
When BBQing a whole chicken you can insert a can of beer in the cavity and set it on the grill top side up.The beer is supposed to steam the chick. I tried it once and didn’t taste any diffrence…and wished I had drank that beer.
For chicken we make a BBQ sauce that is mostly beer. Add some regular bbq sauce , tabasco and apricot brandy.
Beer is a fantastic ingredient. I have used Chimay ale to deglaze the frond from pork,chantrelles, and apricots roasted with a little rosemary, and olive oil --ohhh…
I use it for cooking sausages, adding to dressings, steaming mussels, etc.
My roommate is currently taking a grad school course that is focusing on the change from hunter-gatherer society to agricultural society. Not once has beer been mentioned. BTW, if you have any doubts about the class it is being taught by Lewis Binford.
The “Beer = Civilization” theory (my terminology) has only been around for 10-15 years or so. I don’t know if it’s received enough support from the academic community to be accepted as fact or if it is simply one of several competing theories. The original article I read regarding the subject appeared in Discover Magazine a while back.
There are many more references to this theory on the web. I like it because it demystifies the ancients, allowing us to view them in a more sympathetic light. The prevalence of beer (and other alcoholic beverages) as a daily part of the diet is (I presume) part of the reason western history is filled with huge egoes and bad judgement. It’s also probably the reason people of european ancestry generally have more of the enzymes needed to metabolize alcohol, since for many centuries, it was a much safer drink than water.
Anyone else remember a shampoo called “Body on Tap”? I believe it was marketed in the early 1980’s. Anyway, the stuff contained beer. My sister bought a bottle of it and it really did smell like beer.
Okay, I’ll admit it. I boil my pork ribs in beer before smearing them with BBQ sauce, or spice rub, and tossing them on the barby. I think it adds to the taste.
I’m looking at you like that because you are making me hungry.
And boiling in beer in practically a cooking requirement here in Wisconsin (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). We’ve got yer beer-battered fish fry, yer grilled bratwurst boiled in beer, yer beer-battered cheese curds, etc. Mmmmm, mmmmm, good.
Beer totaly sucks. I need something stronger than beer to get intoxicated. American beer is the worst kind of alcohol. If you want a real beer, drink imported, never american. Tequila, Vodka, Rum, Whiskey, now thats alcohol.