Marinades and Grilling/High Heat Cooking Tips for Meats

Ground Beef

by Cat, July 19, 2014 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

Cooking meat at high temperatures (grilling, broiling, deep frying and pan frying) produces toxins (that increase your risk of cancer) such as:

• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
• heterocyclic amines (HCAs)
• advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs)

But marinating the meat for at least 4 hours before cooking dramatically reduces the toxic load. The simplest effective method is to marinate in dark beer (the darker, the better); red wine is also effective. You can add herbs and other ingredients to add flavor and further reduce the toxic load.

Or, if you don’t want to use beer or wine, research indicates a simple vinaigrette, with or without herbs and spices is also effective. The simplest vinaigrette contains olive oil, water, and vinegar (cider vinegar is best but wine vinegars are also effective). To this you can add any of the following, either as a dry rub, or added to the vinaigrette:

See also: 1. Vinaigrette Dressings; 2. Asian Ginger Vinaigrette Dressings; 3. Blueberry Burgers

Marinade or dry-rub ingredients

• cherries
• blueberries
• dried plums
• apples
• garlic
• turmeric
• onion
• rosemary
• grape seed extract
• mustard
• lemon juice (fresh-squeezed)
• cloves
• cinnamon
• oregano
• black pepper
• paprika
• ginger

Check out my vinaigrette recipes:

• Vinaigrette Dressings
•  Asian Ginger Vinaigrette Dressings

Homemade teriyaki marinade is also effective; however be sure to use fermented soy, and minimize the sugar. Avoid commercial marinades, as they likely contain HFCS and other undesirable ingredients that can become even more toxic when cooked at high temperatures.

A word of caution: Using sugary barbecue sauces made with a tomato base are not effective at reducing toxins; rather they INCREASE the toxins when exposed to high cooking temperatures. Instead, add the barbecue sauce to the meat after cooking.

Grilling tips to reduce toxins

• Remember, with HCAs, the longer the cooking time and the higher the heat, the more HCAs.
• Either don’t use fatty meats, or trim the fat off the cuts before grilling to reduce PAHs; see below for tips when using ground meats.
• When grilling, cook your food with indirect heat, such as on a rack rather than directly on the coals. Cooking on a cedar plank is also helpful (excellent for grilling salmon).
• Avoid charring your meat (and don’t eat the black or brown parts).
• Cook meat partially before putting it on the grill, or cook smaller pieces of meat, which take less time to cook, and therefore give HCAs less time to form.
• Use an acidic marinade that contains lemon juice or vinegar to reduce AGEs.
• Use only real, natural ingredients for marinades, and keep the coating thin to avoid charring.
• Use moderate cooking temperatures (under 400° F, even when using your oven. Increasing oven temperature from 392 degrees F to 482 degrees F may triple the amount of HCAs created in beef. (3)
• Avoid grilling hot dogs, bratwurst, and other processed meats, as these seem to be among the worst offenders.
• If direct-grilling chicken, remove the skin prior to cooking, and don’t eat the skin if you do cook it, as it has the highest HCA content. Using indirect heat is preferable when grilling chicken with skin-on.
• Only grill high-quality, organic and grass-fed meats.
• Rare meat, or meat seared on both sides with the inside mostly raw is best. Never cook more than medium rare. Exception: pork must be well done to avoid parasites. Always use an effective marinade when grilling pork to reduce toxins (see above). Do not use a tomato-base barbecue sauce for the marinade.

Tips for grilling ground meats

• Flip your burgers often, as this will help cut down on HCAs.
• Add blueberries, cherries, garlic, or spices to your burgers, as they can also help prevent the formation of HCAs. Chop the fruit or break it up in your blender; mince the garlic then press with salt to form a paste. Then mix with the ground meat using your hands or a potato masher to ensure it is well-mixed. How much to use? Food scientist J. Ian Gray found that “substituting ground cherries for 11.5 percent of the meat in hamburger reduced the formation of PhIP, the principal heterocyclic amine that forms when this meat cooks. The cherry burger had about 10 percent of the amount of PhIP in a pure grilled hamburger.” (2) An Eating Well recipe (4) uses ⅓ cup blueberries for 12 oz ground beef.  See Blueberry Burgers recipe.
• Open a capsule containing 40 mg vitamin D3 and mix into the meat.
• Use moderate cooking temperatures (under 400° F, even when using your oven. Increasing oven temperature from 392 degrees F to 482 degrees F may triple the amount of HCAs created in beef. (3)
• Avoid grilling hot dogs, bratwurst, and other processed meats, as these seem to be among the worst offenders.
• If grilling chicken, remove the skin prior to cooking, and don’t eat the skin if you do cook it, as it has the highest HCA content.
• Only grill high-quality, organic and grass-fed meats.

References

1. Mercola: (articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/07/19/grilled-meat-carcinogens.aspx)
2. The Free Library April 24, 1999 (thefreelibrary.com/Well-Done+Research.-a054588642
3. Natural Medicine Journal July 2010 Vol. 2 Issue 7 (naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/2010-07/marinades-reduce-heterocyclic-amines-primitive-food-preparation-techniques)
4. Eating Well (eatingwell.com/recipes/blueberry_beef_burgers.html)