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Alcohol with your meat?
I use a little beer in marinating meats. From what I hear it is suppose to tenderize the mear a bit more. How about you guys?
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I'll occasionally make a marinade for a whole ham that's a pineapple, brown sugar and Rum.
I'll use wine for lots of things from shrimp to duck to chiekcn to pork to beef. |
Beer is excellent for brats! :)
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Originally Posted by Non-NonRev
(Post 14250923)
Beer is excellent for brats! :)
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My guess is that there's nothing alcohol does to dissolve the tough proteins in meat. Additionally, marinades generally don't penetrate more than the outer 1/8" of the cut.
See, for example: Here's what the great Chef Thomas Keller says in his award winning The French Laundry Cookbook: "If your marinating anything with alcohol, cook the alcohol off first. Alcohol doesn't tenderize; cooking tenderizes. Alcohol in a marinade in effect cooks the exterior of the meat, preventing the meat from fully absorbing the flavors in the marinade. Raw alcohol itself doesn't do anything good to meat. So put your wine or spirit in a pan, add your aromatics, cook off the alcohol, let it cool, and then pour it over your meat. This way you have the richness of the fruit of the wine or Cognac or whatever you're using, but you don't have the chemical reaction of 'burning' the meat with alcohol or it's harsh raw flavor." |
Originally Posted by Non-NonRev
(Post 14250923)
Beer is excellent for brats! :)
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Other than the beer with brats thing (I am originally from Wisconsin, after all), about the only alcohol I use in cooking is wine in Risotto.
Never heard of using beer or other alcohol as a tenderizer. |
Originally Posted by EveryPointCounts
(Post 14250299)
I use a little beer in marinating meats. From what I hear it is suppose to tenderize the mear a bit more. How about you guys?
Never tried marinating in beer, but the New England tradition of "hot dogs steamed in beer" sure produces yummy results. |
We just found a recipe for peppercorn steak using Cabarnet Sauvignon that we're about to try, but the recipe does as the chef in the quote above says, and cooks off the alcohol before putting the sauce (probably a better term, but I don't know it) back on the steak.
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Typical Chinese stir-fry recipes call for marinating the meat in rice wine & soy, with other items like egg, cornstarch, etc.
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I like Bourbon with my food...
...in a separate glass.. with ice....:D |
Alcohol in a marinade is more about flavor than tenderization IMO.
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There are some good pasta dishes that contain vodka and rum is a basic ingredient in many cakes.
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I like to use a little bourbon on pork chops or ribs after I coat them with a dry rub, which helps to dissolve the spices.
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Originally Posted by N965VJ
(Post 14265249)
I like to use a little bourbon on pork chops or ribs after I coat them with a dry rub, which helps to dissolve the spices.
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