This summer most of you will attend, or have a barbecue where you will serve or be served grilled meat. Some of you will opt for chicken over beef due to your health conscious nature. However, the most dangerous element you will consume will not be the red meat or the white meat. The real dietary danger will be the black meat! Grilled meat contains one of the most potent carcinogens known: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH), and the telltale signs are the black stripes from the grill.
When fire directly touches meat the fat liquefies and drips into the fire, vaporizing and creating dangerous compounds that rise in the form of gas and reattach to the meat. While all substances have a temperature whereby they will vaporize, animal fats must be heated to extremely high temperatures in order to achieve this. When they do vaporize (as they do when they drip into the fire) they become not only toxic but easily absorbed by the body.
The bad news is they are polycyclic. The good news is they are aromatic. It turns out the most dangerous substance found inside vaporized animal fat is PAH. When scientists want to create cancer in a laboratory, they will often use PAH because cooked animal fatsare known to be one of the primary causes of cancer. Throw in the hormones, MSG and sodium nitrate (which also fuse into various bad things at high temperatures) and it's obvious why about half of Americans develop cancer in their lifetime.
In order not to be a complete 'kill-joy' your fancy outdoor grill was not a complete waste of money. There is a fast solution to the problem: a cast iron skillet can be used on the grill to protect the meat from touching the flame (one just needs to watch out for the handles that get hot).
When bread cooks under a flame on a hot stone, the blackening it obtains is actually a powerful antioxidant (similar to activated charcoal). Also, when meat or fish blackens in a pan or under a broiler it's not as dangerous. In fact, this is a key used by most chefs to obtain certain textures and flavors and to sear in juice. You mainly wants to avoid having the fire directly touch the meat.
Nowadays many restaurants ask patrons if they prefer an item "blackened". A few years ago this meant flame broiled. However now "blackened" usually means blackened seasoning, an artificial flavor normally containing MSG along with cheap fillers. Should you inquire, the waiter will most likely know nothing about it and will resent your even asking. The waiter will have to ask the cook who is likely to become equally annoyed. The cook must then read the ingredients on that giant container of powder on the shelf for the first time. Most won't be able to detect hidden forms of MSG such as Natural Flavoring,Casein, or Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, and some won't even know that MSG also goes by the name Monosodium Glutamate. They will say "no MSG"." To make matters worse, a number of restaurants (even high end chains) don't make the ingredients of their spice blends available to the chef.
For a great MSG-like flavor try the following blend in equal parts:
* Celery salt
* Dill
* Turmeric
* Cayenne pepper
* Paprika.
When fire directly touches meat the fat liquefies and drips into the fire, vaporizing and creating dangerous compounds that rise in the form of gas and reattach to the meat. While all substances have a temperature whereby they will vaporize, animal fats must be heated to extremely high temperatures in order to achieve this. When they do vaporize (as they do when they drip into the fire) they become not only toxic but easily absorbed by the body.
The bad news is they are polycyclic. The good news is they are aromatic. It turns out the most dangerous substance found inside vaporized animal fat is PAH. When scientists want to create cancer in a laboratory, they will often use PAH because cooked animal fatsare known to be one of the primary causes of cancer. Throw in the hormones, MSG and sodium nitrate (which also fuse into various bad things at high temperatures) and it's obvious why about half of Americans develop cancer in their lifetime.
In order not to be a complete 'kill-joy' your fancy outdoor grill was not a complete waste of money. There is a fast solution to the problem: a cast iron skillet can be used on the grill to protect the meat from touching the flame (one just needs to watch out for the handles that get hot).
When bread cooks under a flame on a hot stone, the blackening it obtains is actually a powerful antioxidant (similar to activated charcoal). Also, when meat or fish blackens in a pan or under a broiler it's not as dangerous. In fact, this is a key used by most chefs to obtain certain textures and flavors and to sear in juice. You mainly wants to avoid having the fire directly touch the meat.
Nowadays many restaurants ask patrons if they prefer an item "blackened". A few years ago this meant flame broiled. However now "blackened" usually means blackened seasoning, an artificial flavor normally containing MSG along with cheap fillers. Should you inquire, the waiter will most likely know nothing about it and will resent your even asking. The waiter will have to ask the cook who is likely to become equally annoyed. The cook must then read the ingredients on that giant container of powder on the shelf for the first time. Most won't be able to detect hidden forms of MSG such as Natural Flavoring,Casein, or Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, and some won't even know that MSG also goes by the name Monosodium Glutamate. They will say "no MSG"." To make matters worse, a number of restaurants (even high end chains) don't make the ingredients of their spice blends available to the chef.
For a great MSG-like flavor try the following blend in equal parts:
* Celery salt
* Dill
* Turmeric
* Cayenne pepper
* Paprika.
Happy Summer. . .
