July is a natural month to focus on grilling. The Fourth of July is synony-
mous with grilling, and every weekend the smell of cookouts fills the air.
It’s easy, it lends itself beautifully to get-togethers and lets you stay out-
side. So why am I pouring water on our grilling fires? It turns out that
grilling food can expose it to two different types of cancer-causing
agents (carcinogens):
PAHs, created when the food’s fat drips onto the heat source,
causing the food to be coated with PAH-filled smoke.
HCAs, created when food is cooked over high heat, and when
red meat is cooked well-done.
And it doesn’t matter if you use wood, charcoal or gas to grill
your food, the effect is the same.
So should we give up grilling altogether? Not at all! Reader’s
Digest has a great article on safer grilling at www.rd.com/food/-
10-guidelines-for-healthier-grilling, and I’ve highlighted them
below. Follow these guidelines for healthier grilling and enjoy
your meal!
Choose fish over meat. Fish generally contains less fat than
meat and poultry, which makes it less likely to create PAH-
carrying smoke. And it tends to require much less time on the
grill, reducing its exposure to carcinogens.
Don’t char your meat. While you want to cook meat thoroughly
(especially poultry), you don’t want to cook it beyond all recogni-
tion. Avoid well-done meat as much as possible.
Keep the fat to a minimum. Choose lean cuts of meat, trim
all visible fat, and remove skin from chicken.
Precook your foods. Partially cooking meat or poultry in the
microwave for two to five minutes draws out most of the potentially
harmful chemicals without sacrificing moistness. (Be sure to dis-
card the juices produced.) To prevent bacteria from multiplying,
grill the food immediately after precooking.
Oil your grill. A little oil keeps charred material from sticking to
the food. (It also helps keep fish and chicken in one piece.)
Use aluminum foil. Make tiny holes in a piece of foil and place it
on the grill underneath your meat. The holes let the fat drip down,
and the foil reduces the amount of smoke that billows back up.
Wrapping the meat completely in perforated foil is an even
better idea.
Lower the heat. On charcoal grills, increase the distance between
the food and the hot coals by spreading the coals thin or by prop-
ping the grill rack on bricks. On gas grills, simply adjust the
heat setting.
Stick to charcoal and hardwood (like hickory and maple) because
they burn at lower temperatures than softwood (like pine).
Clean your grill. Scrub your grill thoroughly after every use to
avoid a buildup of carcinogens that can be transferred to your
food the next time you grill.
My favorite bonus tip: marinate your food before grilling it. Researchers
have found that marinating food reduces the resulting carcinogens by
more than 90%, possibly by drawing out the chemical precursors of
carcinogens. Just be sure to treat marinades, which draw bacteria from
meat and poultry, as a raw food. To use a marinade as a serving sauce,
set aside a portion before you place the meat in it or boil it for three
minutes before serving.
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