Thinking Hard About Beer Battered Food

This past weekend, I had to recall how much alcohol is actually in beer-battered food. I was getting ready to begin frying some fish with a person suffering from late stage liver cirrhosis, so naturally the thought popped into my head “how much alcohol will be in this?” The answer is none; the alcohol evaporates quickly as the fish is fried, leaving only the taste of the beer behind.

My second thought was that this particular individual has not had a beer in three or more years after being diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. As a recovered alcoholic, I was worried the taste would cause him to crave it again. It turned out all the taste did was cause him (and I) to stuff our faces with not only the fish, but every veggie we could get our hands on in the fridge and dip in the batter – a good ol’ fashioned beer batter fry-a-thon.

However, my early hesitation was warranted. After struggling for years with medication regimens, doctor appointments, hospital stays and more, one afternoon of fun would not be worth a setback. This was walking a thin line as far as I’m concerned, but as of now the only thing we’re craving is to go catch more fish… And when a person might not have much more time left, he deserves an afternoon at the lake.