SUMMER
GRILLING RECIPES
June
2008
From
Culinary Captive
Anne Vidor
{Download
printable pdfs}
Barbecued
Chicken Marinade
Ginger-Herb
Chicken Marinade
Adobo
Pork Roast Marinade
Cuban-Style
Grilled Pork Chop Marinade
Barbecued
Short Rib Marinade
Sesame
Ginger Beef Marinade
Though I tend to
get credit for doing the majority of the cooking
in our household, Michael does all of
the grilling. Since we usually cook on the Weber
two or three times a week during the spring and
summer and about once a week the rest of the year,
barbecue makes up a large portion of our meals—fortunate
for me, Michael is an excellent grill master.
At our house, the plan to “grill something” is actually our way
of saying “Let’s have some fun.” We seem to find something
celebratory in the whole process; cooking as a team, half indoors and half
out, makes preparing dinner a special event. So, when we say, “Let’s
grill something tonight,” we are really saying we’d like to whip
up some great side dishes, hang out around the grill, maybe drink a little
wine, and enjoy our feast on the patio rather than at the kitchen table. See?
Fun.
And we don’t like that grilling fun to be tampered with. We have several
simple rules to ensure a smooth and smoky time: the first and most important
rule is to use a high-quality natural charcoal (which lends great flavor) rather
than briquettes, which can contain petroleum. Likewise, we don’t use
liquid starter, but rather a simple-to-use chimney and some newspaper. As for
gas grilling, our opinion has always been “Why bother?” If you
haven’t got live fire, you’re not really barbecuing.
But apparently there’s something about that fire that’s putting
our fun in peril—and I don’t mean the threat of burning down the
house. I recently read that there is some pretty strong evidence that grilled
foods contain a known cancer causing carcinogen that occurs when an amino acid
in the protein encounters high heat.
Like all issues, there are opposing viewpoints. Even the experts at the American
Cancer Society say that we don’t know just how much grilled food you’d
have to consume, or just how charred it has to be, to increase your cancer
risk. Those debunking the cancer concerns claim you’d have to eat nothing
but burnt protein to replicate the studies that have been done on mice. I can
count on Michael not to burn our food, so I’m not too concerned.
Interestingly, though, using a marinade with an acidic component, such as citrus
or vinegar, prior to grilling seems to reduce the problematic carcinogens by
about 90 percent. With the exception of steak and seafood, we usually brine
rather than marinate our meat (chicken, turkey, leg of lamb, etc.) for at least
a few hours in lightly salted water with a splash of cider vinegar, which makes
the meat tender and helps to keep it from drying out. We usually finish it
off with a dry rub made from freshly ground spices—but, in the name of
fun and food—maybe it’s time to modify Michael’s mode of
barbecuing and switch from a dry rub to a marinade. Then we can keep up the
celebration known as “grill something” without any annoying distractions
about our health.
Try these fun, inventive, and low-carcinogen marinades—and go ahead, grill
something this summer.
|
