Biermarinade, the beer marinade half of South Africa grew up on: lager, oil, onion and lemon, mixed in two minutes, and suddenly the chops have a secret.
Every South African father owns a marinade recipe he did not invent, will not source, and defends like a title deed. It lives on a stained page or in no book at all, it involves beer, and the exact amount of beer that reaches the meat depends entirely on supervision. This is that recipe: the biermarinade that has been doing the rounds on South African Facebook, in boekies and on the backs of till slips since before any of us could reach the braai.
Our take keeps it exactly as simple as it deserves to be. Nine ingredients, one bowl, one instruction. The beer tenderises and carries the flavour, the lemon wakes it up, and the onion rings that come out of the marinade belong on the grid next to the meat, where they become the private snack of whoever is holding the tongs. Everything comes from any Australian supermarket, and any honest lager does the job.
Table of Contents
Biermarinade
Ingredients
Method
- Mix everything together. That is the whole method, and it has never needed a second step.
- Pour it over the meat in a non-metallic dish or a zip-seal bag, turn to coat, and let it stand in the fridge before braaing.
- Keep the onion rings when you drain the meat; grilled over the coals they are a reward for whoever tended the fire.
Notes
Getting it right
Our rule of thumb on time. Two to four hours in the fridge suits chops and steak; overnight is the ceiling, because the lemon juice slowly starts cooking the surface of the meat and nobody ordered ceviche at a braai.
Glass, ceramic or a zip-seal bag. The lemon and the metal of a mixing bowl do not get along over a few hours. A bag also means you can turn the whole lot without touching anything.
Pat the meat dry before it hits the grid. A dripping chop steams and flares; a lightly blotted one sears. The flavour is already inside, so you lose nothing but the fireworks.
The onion rings are cargo, not packaging. Fish them out, grill them at the cooler edge of the fire, and distribute them according to merit.
Which beer to use
Any honest lager. This is not the place for a beer you are precious about, and it is not the place for anything heavily hopped either, because bitterness concentrates on the grid and turns sharp.
A standard Australian lager is the safe choice and the closest thing to what the recipe grew up on. A mid-strength works just as well, since you are not relying on the alcohol for anything. Stout and dark ale give a heavier, sweeter result that suits beef better than chicken, and cider is a different marinade altogether, pleasant but no longer biermarinade.
Non-alcoholic lager is a straight swap in the same quantity. It behaves the same way in the bowl, which is worth knowing if you are cooking for a table where it matters.
How long to marinate, by cut
The lemon juice is doing more of the work than the beer is, and it does not stop working. That is why the ceiling matters as much as the minimum.
| Cut | Minimum | Sweet spot | Ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lamb or pork chops | 1 hour | 2 to 4 hours | Overnight |
| Steak | 1 hour | 2 to 4 hours | Overnight |
| Chicken pieces, bone in | 2 hours | 4 to 6 hours | Overnight |
| Chicken breast | 30 minutes | 1 to 2 hours | 4 hours |
| Boerewors | None. It is already seasoned | ||
Chicken breast is the one that punishes you for forgetting it, because there is no fat or bone to protect the texture. For the cuts themselves, Meat and Livestock Australia lists what Australian butchers actually label as chops and cutlets, which do not always match the South African names.
Marinating it safely
Two rules, and neither is fussy. The bowl lives in the fridge, not on the bench, for the whole marinating window. And the liquid it came out of does not go back on the meat once that meat is cooked. The NSW Food Authority puts it plainly: do not pour liquid that has been used to marinate raw meat onto cooked meats.
If you want some of it as a baste, set a little aside in a separate jug before the raw meat goes anywhere near the bowl. That is the whole trick, and it costs you nothing.
Travelling to a braai somewhere else, keep the bag cold the whole way. Our guide to the fire rules state by state covers where you can legally light up once you arrive.
Where it goes wrong
Too long in the bowl. Past overnight the lemon turns the surface pale and soft. It is still safe, it just stops tasting like a chop.
Marinating in metal. A stainless bowl for an hour is fine. A few hours with lemon juice in it is not, and you will taste the difference.
Salting early. There is no salt in the marinade on purpose. Salt the meat as it goes on the fire, so it draws moisture to the surface at the right moment rather than in the fridge.
Throwing away the onions. They have been sitting in beer and lemon for four hours. Grill them at the cooler edge of the fire and hand them out sparingly.
What to pour it over
Chops, steak and chicken pieces are the classics; give the chicken the longer end of the marinating window. Wors stays out of the bowl, because boerewors seasons itself and tradition is watching. Round out the table from our braai side dishes and the fire does the rest.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is biermarinade?
Biermarinade is the classic South African beer marinade: lager, oil, onion rings, parsley, bay leaf, peppercorns, bruised garlic, lemon juice and zest, mixed together and poured over meat before it goes on the braai. One batch covers about a kilogram of meat.
How long should the meat marinate?
Our rule of thumb is two to four hours in the fridge for chops and steak, longer for chicken pieces, and never more than overnight. Past that the lemon juice starts cooking the surface of the meat and the texture goes soft.
Does the beer make the food alcoholic?
Very little of it reaches the plate, because most of the marinade is discarded rather than eaten and the meat only carries what soaked into the surface. Cooking drives off some of what remains, though not all of it, so we would not call it alcohol free. If it matters at your table, use a non-alcoholic lager in the same amount and the marinade works exactly the same way.
Can I reuse biermarinade?
Not on cooked meat, and not for a second batch of raw meat either. Mix a fresh batch, it takes two minutes. If you want a baste, pour some off into a separate jug before any raw meat goes in.
Do I need to salt the marinade?
No. Salt the meat as it goes on the grid instead. Salt in the bowl pulls moisture out over a few hours, which works against what the beer and oil are doing.
What else can I put in it?
A tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce deepens it for beef. A spoon of chutney softens it for chicken. If you want a sauce to go with it rather than a marinade, our monkey gland sauce is the one that belongs on the same table.
