All BBQ, No Cancer
Over at T-Nation today TC penned an article “Food Magic x5” which looked at some neat ways to take advantage of special properties of certain foods. I've attached below part of the article where he addresses the danger of BBQ...
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Vitamin C and Barbecued Meat
You know it isn't good for you, but you eat it anyhow. Hell, it's summer, so you'd have to be namby-pamby to pass up a barbecued burger or steak.
Still, it doesn't hurt to use some protection.
That's why, before your lips even touch a piece of charred meat, you should ingest some foods high in Vitamin C.
Here's the problem:
When you cook meat, fat drips off and hits the coals. The hot coals form a carcinogen known as benzopyrene, which floats up in smoke and embeds itself in your burger. Likewise, when the hot grill comes into contact with the meat, other carcinogens known as heterocyclic amines are formed.
To make things worse, if your host is grilling hot dogs or some other preserved meat, they're soaked in nitrates. Once nitrates are eaten, they combine with amines in the mouth and gut to form nitrosamines, which are yet another class of carcinogen.
Put them all together and you've got...well, bad news. Granted, the odds of developing esophageal or gut cancer from just a few servings of burnt meat are very low, but why take a chance, especially since it's summer and you'll no doubt be eating more charred meat than a hungry Neanderthal?
Soooo, when you know some charred meat is on the way, eat something high in Vitamin C before so much as touching your lips to a burger. Foods that are high in Vitamin C that might reasonably go with a barbecued food include red peppers and broccoli.
Barring that, pop a Vitamin C tab before you chow down.
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Now I'm a BBQ nut and taking the necessary precautions is a must. TC's recommendation of popping some vitamin C is a good one. But there are some other things that you can do to keep BBQ healthy and cancer free.
1. Trim your meat really well - TC points out that the problem starts with the fat dripping from your meat to the coals. Trimming off as much extra fat will reduce the amount of fat available to drip.
2. Pre-cook your meats - Starting the cooking process in the oven, or even a pan on the stove top, will cook off some of the extra fat leaving less to drip to on the coals.
3. Use a drip pan - Spread the hot coals out in a circle, leaving the middle empty. Next place a tin pie plate in the empty space, put the grate back on and place your meats so they are over the tin pie plate. They meat will cook a little slower (slow = tender) because it won't get direct heat/flames but none of the fat will drip onto the coals.
4. Just don't eat the charred stuff - I was watching a BBQ Expert on FoodTV get his “cook on” with some brisket. When he was done he cut off the blackest most charred part, said "ummm this is the best part", and ate it. Maybe he didn't know better, but you do. Cut away the really charred pieces and don't eat them. Your cells will thank you for this display of self control.
I hope you find these tip useful and effective. Now get grillin!
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