Why You Should Pair Your Steak Dinner With A Carbonated Beverage
There are plenty of occasions where a glass of water is the best beverage to sip on — but when you're eating a steak dinner? Well, that isn't one of those times. Not only is water a rather boring accompaniment to a rich, delicious meal, but it lacks the palate-cleansing abilities that a lot of other drinks have. Palate cleansing is important for heavy meals since it helps invigorate the tongue, keeping it from feeling weighed down or overwhelmed by all of the deep flavors. This makes it better able to differentiate other foods on the plate so that bites between steak, green beans, and mashed potatoes are all distinct, for example.
While plain water won't do the trick, carbonated water like seltzer and soda water are especially good at cleansing the palate. Bubbly water isn't the only carbonated beverage that pairs well with a steak dinner, however. Beer, colas, various flavored sodas, and other carbonated drinks have benefits as well.
Acidic beverages balance the salt and fat in that steak dinner
In addition to being a palate cleanser, carbonation helps create balance in fatty, high-sodium meals. That's because carbonated water, soda, and beer are all acidic. Just as acids help regulate the salt and fat in your cooking, the acidity in sodas and other bubbly drinks helps to keep the rich flavors of a steak dinner in balance. For comparison, the pH (a measurement of acidity) in soda is generally between two and five while carbonated water is usually in the three to four pH range. Beer, which is usually not quite as carbonated as sodas but does have its fair share of bubbles, has a pH of around four.
The acidity of each of these carbonated beverages is plenty to help cut the fat and balance the salt in your steak dinner. But you can also increase pH, and thus the power of each to balance your meal, with a squeeze of lemon. The citrus fruit's juice falls within two to three on the pH scale, making it the perfect acid to add to your sparkling water, cola, or frosty mug of beer. That high acidity is why lemon juice is a common ingredient in so many recipes, after all.
An unexpected benefit of drinking carbonated beverages at mealtimes
Everyone has done it at least once — gotten super excited about their food and taken too big of a bite. Or maybe they didn't chew quite well enough before swallowing, eager to get on to the next bite. Then comes that awful feeling where a chunk of food just doesn't want to go down the way it's supposed to. It's not anywhere near as bad as choking, but it's certainly not a comfortable feeling and it makes it hard to enjoy the rest of the meal. This is the worst with a steak dinner that you want to enjoy, and maybe even more common than with other foods due to the thickness of the meat and the elation that comes with a good steak.
But if you've got a soda on hand it just might help you clear that annoying lump. That's because the carbonation can help soften the meat a little bit while simultaneously calming your esophagus. If you weren't convinced that a carbonated beverage is the perfect drink to pair with your steak dinner before, you probably are now.