Summer, Beer, and BBQ

It sure seems like beer and summer just go together. Beer, Summer. Summer, Beer. Actually, that's probably true for all the seasons now that I think about it (at least for me). Winter ales, Pumpkin brews...hmmm...love the pumpkin brews. Let's focus on summer though, shall we? Gayot.com has a fantastic top ten list of summer beers, including a Belgian Raspberry "Framboise" Lambic (I love lambics!) - Cantillon "Rose de Gambrinus." Summer brews are typically lighter, crisper, drier and lower in alcohol content...meaning you can drink them all afternoon and stay upright. And, contrary to what you might believe, beer is not just for drinking! It works great in marinades and sauces tenderizing meats without breaking down the texture as many common BBQ sauces tend to do (due to the lower acidity level). In fact, one of my trade-secret recipes for a spare-rib marinade involves beer, quite a bit of it I might add, and it's fantastic according to all my guinea pigs, uh, I mean, my friends. The meat comes out oh-so tender. Since I won't be sharing my secret, spare-rib marinade, I've dug around the web and found some great recipes below! All I can say is experiment, drink, experiment, and drink some more!

• Beer in the Rear Chicken and BBQ Sauce - Paula Deen on Food Network
• Beer-Marinated Flank Steak with Aji and Guacamole - Bon Appetit on Epicurious
• Beer Can Chicken - user Gay Gilmore on Recipezaar
• Beer and Brown Sugar Steak Marinade - user Craig Jones on AllRecipes

Another interesting tidbit: Drinking beer with BBQ, especially dark beers such as porters and stouts, defuses the potentially dangerous grilling compounds HAAS (heteroclyclate aromatic amines), according to the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry! Now that's good news! photo courtesy of sheltonbrothers.com