Marination. We've been doing it for centuries. A derivation from "aqua marina" – the ye-olde term for brine – marinating was originally used to pickle foods, preserve them and prevent them from going all funny. In order to ward off any pesky bacteria marinades were, historically, acutely acidic and not too tasty.

But now, marinating is more about making meat more memorable and, as such, a marinade tends to be a balanced blend of acidics, oils, herbs and spices. A marinade can be as simple or as strong as you desire, depending on the ingredients and the length of marination.

For a really magic marinade, mix in some beer. Maltier, darker beers like stout, porter and amber ales tend to shine in stronger, spicier marinades while more subtle and simple marinades, with just a sprinkle of seasoning, work well with more delicate drops – be they wheat beers, light pilsners or hoppy summer ales. Be wary of beer's bitterness, it can overpower if overused. Less is more in a beer marinade.

Another secret to good marination is planning ahead. Flavours need time to slowly steep into meat, fish and vegetables so prepare the marinades the night before the BBQ if you can. As metal containers can react with any acids, opt for a plastic, ceramic or glass container and make sure it's shallow as this allows the marinade to fully cover the food. Timings for different meats are below.

Other tips? Give the meat a poke and a prick with a knife or fork as this allows flavours to be fully absorbed.

Timings

Red Meat (beef or lamb): Four to six hours
Game Meat (venison): Six hours or longer
Pork: Two to four hours
Poultry (chicken or turkey): Two to four hours
Duck or Game birds: Four to eight hours
Whole fish (sea bass or trout): one to two hours
Fish Steaks/Fillets (tuna, salmon): 30 mins to one hour
Vegetables: 30 mins to one hour

Beer Marinade Recipes

Stout Beer Marinade

With a characteristic caramel sweetness and dry bitterness, stout is a superb beer in which to soak pork, chicken, beef or lamb. Guinness is the most readily available but check out your local microbrewery to see if they do a stout, or indeed a porter, too.

Method:

Combine all ingredients and mix well
Leave to stand for 30 minutes to blend flavours.
Marinade

Ingredients:

100ml Stout
2 garlic cloves
25ml soy sauce
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1 teaspoon shallots
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon fresh tarragon
1/4 teaspoon parsley
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

Southwestern Beer Marinade

Again, a dark stout or a porter is superb in this sweet and spicy Southern-style marinade which also uses wine.

Method:

Combine all ingredients and mix well
Leave to stand for 30 minutes to blend flavours.
Marinade

Ingredients:

2 cups red wine
1 330ml can of beer
1 small red onion, sliced
Juice from 6 to 8 limes
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Sweet Beer BBQ Pork Rib Marinade

An ale with a firm malt backbone is what is needed to really raise these ribs. Much like the marinade itself, you want something that straddles sweetness and bitterness. We suggest a big German Bock, a Belgian Dubbel or brawny British brown ale.

Method:

Combine all ingredients apart from the ketchup.
Marinade the ribs, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge overnight.
Take the ribs out of the fridge and marinade two hours before you want to cook them and place them in another container. Cover with cling film and allow them to sit at room temperature.
Strain the marinade through a sieve into a saucepan and reduce to a slender syrup (be careful not to not burn!).
Take off the heat and allow to cool before mixing in the ketchup.
Using a brush coat each rack with the marinade. Add more of the marinade with the brush each time you turn the racks on the BBQ.

Ingredients:

3/4 pint dark real ale
1 finely chopped small onion
30g light brown sugar
1/2 tbs. sea salt
4 garlic cloves (finely grated)
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. finely ground black pepper
4 tbs. tomato ketchup

Wheat Beer Shrimp Marinade

When searing seafood on the grill, you don't want a marinade to overpower the occasion but enlighten the experience with delicate, light flavours. Belgian-style wheat beers, all light spice and citrus, are slightly better than Bavarian versions – such as Blue Moon from Coors. Alternatively, try summer ales with a dash of honey such as Waggledance from Wells & Young's Brewery or Fuller's Honey Dew.

Method:

Combine all ingredients together in a saucepan
Bring to a boil, simmer uncovered and reduce for 10-15 mins
Leave to cool to room temperature
Place in refrigerator for two hours
Put shrimp on skewers and pour marinade over shrimp.
Leave for a couple hours in the refrigerator
Grill shrimp over medium high heat, flipping after a couple minutes
When shrimp are pink throughout, take off grill and serve
Entertaining with beer made easy

Ingredients:

660ml Belgian Wheat Beer
1/3 Cup of honey
1 teaspoon of All Spice
2 finely chopped garlic cloves
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of brown sugar

Cooking with Beer Tips

Marinades

It is often a softer flavoured marinade than wine; lower alcohol (abv); less in your face tannins; older fashioned wines are gr8 for marinades, but our more modern red wines overpower – as they now do with cheese.

So beer marinades tenderise; and they can add different flavours depending on the style of beer you use; international lagers (little flavour effect on most dishes); sweetly aromatic with beers from Belgium; sweet and malty/nutty ales; caramelised; fragrant citric hop ales; perfumed orange hop ales

Poaching in beer

If you are poaching foods, do it at low heat 160-180^oC and remember that adding sweetly flavoured root vegetables such as sweet potato, parsnips etc will balance out any overtly hoppy flavours.

Aspic/jelly

Maria Elia of the Whitechapel Gallery does a great Duvel jelly with oyster juice under an oyster in its shell; what an epitaph for an oyster. Wit bier (wheat beer) jellies are also great with fish terrines etc. Raspberry beers in aspic with chicken or fish especially salmon and cucumber. Bacchus Frambosen (raspberry) or Kriek (cherry) all in Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsburys; or Lindemans Frambosen Waitrose and Asda and Oddbins. These or Timmermans Strawberry Tesco also great as jellies, with acidity and fresh fruit flavours.

Beer batters

Basically, oilier fish like mackerel and sardines like a hoppier beer such as Marston's Old Empire 5.7%. Whereas light fish like sole are happy with witbiers, fragrant English ales, or the sweeter Innis & Gunn's of this world.

Beer brushed

If cherry works with fatty old Aylesbury duckling, then a sweet n sour cherry fruit beer is a sure winner with pork or tame duck/goose, and great basted on the top or in the sauce. Or more exotically brush smoked beers on oily fish or sausages or smoked ribs. Simpler beers with good malt flavours such as Chimay Red (Oddbins, Asda, Waitrose) are great brushed on roast veg as a glaze. Darker beers turn fish batter or pastry tops darker; and add to their caramelised flavour.

Beer in sauces

Just make sure that leaner hoppier beers aren't boiled in the reduction as they can go bitter and metallic. Ideally the intensity of flavour of the beer should mirror the intensity of flavour of the food.

Smoky soups/carbonades

Great with dark porters and softer stouts

Sorbets

Good with lemony/lychee/tangerine beers like Goose island IPA. But there must be good fresh fruit flavours there to achieve broad appeal. Beware a lean dry hop.

Beer breads

Beer yeasts seem to be loads punchier than bread yeasts and make the dough go happily crazy. Wheat beers make breads sweet and almost banana'ish; fruity ales make bread well fruitier; and raspberry beer breads are just amazing, like raspberry vinegar in your salad dressing.

Salad dressings

Yes, you can put Blue Moon wheat beer from the US or Hoegaarden from Belgium in your salad dressing to add complexity and the more exotic elements of the Harrods perfume counter – but without the legs.

At this time of year as the weather warms up we like to eat outside. Possibly due to the short summer the British absolutely love the chance to enjoy their food in the garden, or on the patio or balcony, or by the side of the M25.

Picnic Facts

Although barbeques have become more popular in the U.K., the picnic is the essence of British outdoor dining. Apart from romantic picnics for two or family outings the English social calendar includes Royal Ascot, Henley Regatta and Glyndebourne to which a picnic is taken.

The oldest written evidence of the word 'picnic' in English can be traced to 1748 when mentioned in the Oxford English Dictionary. The word comes from the French 'piquenique', a combination of piquer ('pick') and nique ('trifle'). Do not confuse with 'pyknic' which comes from the Greek 'puknos' meaning 'stocky with a tendency to run to fat'.

Picnics, as we know them, have been around for hundreds of years. The first European references to alfresco eating were medieval and were hunting feasts. The meal consisted of hams and other cooked meats and probably not so much as a slice of nut roast for a vegetarian.

In the 1800's, a publication by Mrs. Beeton, "Book of Household Management", states that a proper picnic should consist of thirty-five different dishes. These included joints of beef, ribs and shoulders of lamb, roast fowls, roast ducks, ham, tongue, veal-and-ham pies, pigeon pies, lobsters and collared calf's head. When Queen Victoria took a party onto the grouse moor the shoot picnic centred round huge game pies or stews carried out by armies of retainers. Obviously they looked forward to the twelve-course dinner that evening!

Nowadays, we prefer lighter fare. The usual choices include fresh or smoked salmon, chicken etc. But you can be adventurous and have Greek dishes such as dolmades, Italian ones such as roasted peppers, Thai salad – perhaps with a wheat beer to accompany it.

Picnics have featured in some famous paintings. Manet's painting Dejeuner sur L'herbe (right) shows the relaxing effect of eating and drinking out of doors on a warm summer's day.

Picnic at Hanging Rock is frequently voted the best Australian film ever despite being a picnicking disaster (girls disappear never to be seen again).

More common picnic disasters (and how to avoid or fix them):

Rain - Watch the weather forecasts and take an umbrella.
Pests (creepy-crawly variety) - Check there are no hives, nests etc nearby. For evenings, take a citronella candle and bug spray.
Food Allergies - With allergies running rampant and becoming more extreme, make sure you know what all picnickers are allergic to. If you are not sure, it is best to leave nuts out of all your recipes, just to be safe. Also, if you (or a loved one) suffer pollen allergies, carrying medication can be useful. If someone has severe allergies, whether to nuts or bees, keeping a shot of epinephrine is always a good idea (and probably suggested by a doctor).
Warm Beer – Your fellow picnickers may forgive you for being rained on, being bitten to death by bees, ants and even spiders and coming out in a rash because you forgot they could not eat nuts but you will never, ever be forgiven for serving tepid beer. In the USA, a woman shot her husband for this heinous offence. To avoid his fate invest in insulated containers, ice etc. Even better buy a Huski, a device invented by a New Zealander (does this surprise you?) that will chill beer in a few seconds.

In 2000 in France, a 600-mile-long picnic took place from coast-to-coast to celebrate the first Bastille Day of the new Millennium. In the United States, likewise, the 4th July celebration of American Independence is a popular day for a picnic. In Italy the favorite picnic day is Easter Monday.

In Enid Blyton's Famous Five books picnics feature heavily and comprise "gorgeous" food such as tomato sandwiches, tinned sardines, melt-in-the-mouth shortbread, lettuces, radishes, Nestlé milk, ginger beer, tins of pineapple chunks, squares of chocolate washed down with "lashings of non alcoholic ginger beer".