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Grilling Safely

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Recent studies have shown that grilled foods can contain the cancer-causing agent called heterocyclic amines (HCAs), which are formed during the grilling of animal products like chicken, beef, pork and fish.  MSN is running an article with a few tips to keep grilled food safe(r).

From the article:

  1. Microwave foods to reduce grilling time [Ed. I'd rather not use a microwave for chicken. But throwing it into a regular oven and baking for a little while works well. ]
  2. Use low or medium flames to reduce flare-ups that char the meat
  3. Use lean meats to reduce the amount of fat that drips into the flames, reducing a chance of flare-ups.  [Ed. That's a good safety tip anyway. I'd rather not have my eyebrows burned off. And besides, lean meat is good.]
  4. Don't eat blackened meat.  [Ed. Damn! I liked eating hockey pucks. ]
  5. Add sauces or glazes during the final stages of grilling.  The sugar in them can cause flare-ups.

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Anonymous User on 2012-08-07

Meats are not unhealthy. Eating enormous amounts of meat, or fried meats are unhealthy. Grilled and baked meats are not actually evil. If you have high cholesterol/high blood pressure/similar conditions, I’d watch the amount of meat you ate.Hot dogs are unhealthy because they are a combination of all the leftovers and fat ground up into a paste them is then pushed into an edible shell, often with tons of sodium, and weird preservatives. Those are unhealthy.