There are still a few good weeks of summer left, and that means there’s still plenty of time for the ultimate summer activity, barbecuing.
Technically, what we call barbecuing around here is not true barbecuing, which involves the long, slow cooking of meat, often over hours, at relatively low temperatures in the presence of lots of wood smoke. But say “barbecue” in these parts, and everyone thinks of grilling over an open fire.
The word “barbecue” comes to us from the Caribbean, along with the word “cannibal.” (I’ll leave any connection between the two to your imagination.)
For years outdoor cooking meant cooking over charcoal, most commonly charcoal briquets. Briquets are made of scrap wood and sawdust burned to carbon, then compressed with a starch binder and ground coal. Because the particles of fuel are tightly compressed, it’s hard for oxygen to penetrate the briquet, so it burn slowly. Briquets’ uniform shape means they give a nice, even heat. Unfortunately, the binder can sometimes contain chemicals that can give food an off-taste, as can the coal.
A better choice is hardwood lump charcoal, wood that is left to smolder without oxygen until it turns to carbon (which burns hotter and more slowly than wood).
Getting a charcoal fire started is always an ordeal. Most people use lighter fluid, but that can give food a chemical taste. Gasoline and kerosene are obviously taboo. One option is strips of newspaper soaked in vegetable oil. Another is an electric starter, a high-resistance loop that you stick in the charcoal.
It takes at least 40 minutes for a charcoal fire to be ready, but it’s important not to put food on too soon–that results in food that’s burnt on the outside and raw on the inside.Wait until the coals are uniformly covered with gray ash and you can hold your palm over the fire at the level of the grill for five seconds. If you can only hold it there for two or three seconds, the fire is too hot: it will sear, but not cook.
Once you’ve got the fire at the right temperature, the next trick is to keep it there. Fires burn more aggressively with oxygen, so opening vents on the grill will increase heat; closing the vents will decrease heat.
Increasingly, backyard barbecues burn natural gas or propane. Purists deride gas grills because they don’t provide any smoke for flavor. The even heat of a gas grill also takes some of the excitement out of barbecuing because everything is cooked evenly all the way through, whereas a charcoal grill makes some parts smokier and more highly flavored than others.
But it is possible to add wood smoke by placing on the stones an aluminum pan filled with wood chips that have been soaked in water for at least half an hour. (Some people like to toss herbs onto the stones at the last minute, but it’s doubtful that any of that smoke, though it impresses the guests, does much to flavor the food.)
You might think barbecuing is one of the last of life’s simple, guilt-free pleasures. Think again. Any time you cook meat at temperatures higher than the boiling point of water, the process creates carcinogenic compounds called hererocyclic aromatic amines, or HAAs. Because barbecued meat is cooked at high heat close to an open flame, it is particularly high in HAAs.
Fortunately, you can lessen the formation of HAAs. First, eat your salad before you eat your meat, because compounds in fruits and vegetables can help eliminate HAAs from the body.
Second, scrape off the black bits. Burned meat is particularly high in HAAs. Another option is to pre-cook the meat in the microwave. This expels juices that play a major role in the formation of HAAs, and has been shown to reduce HAA levels by 90 percent in hamburgers.
Finally, try marinating your meat before barbecuing it. I’ve even got a recipe, from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, for a marinade that reduces HAA levels in meat (although, noted the laboratory, any marinade seems to have similar effects, including commercial ones).
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory marinade consisted of 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, three garlic cloves, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, three tablespoons of mustard, 1/4 cup of cider vinegar, three tablespoons of lemon juice and six tablespoons of olive oil.
If it’s good enough for a laboratory that used to specialize in hydrogen bombs, it’s good enough for me.
