Many of us think that grilling is
the healthiest and most natural way to eat meat. What could be more natural
than throwing meat on the fire right? Well, it isn’t quite so simple. The grill
can easily dry out and overcook the meat, making it harder to digest and even
taste less flavorful.
Overcooking
Meat
Overcooked meat is tough because of what happens to the fat, protein, and
sugar molecules; they get fused together, making them difficult to cut, chew,
and digest.
Cooking muscle meat at high
temperatures and with dry heat toughens the meat, destroys nutrients, and
creates carcinogens.
Heterocyclic amines are formed when meat is cooked at high temperatures and polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are formed when fat and juices drip onto
the open fire, causing flames. These flames then contain PAHs which adhere to
the surface of the meat. Both of these compounds have been shown to cause
cancer.
The amino acids in the meat are very
sensitive to heat and can be easily damaged. The amino acids, plus the oxygen and
iron that is in our blood can all react, which creates fusions between the
molecules. This creates toxins that your body can’t use, but you’ll absorb
anyway.
Once in your bloodstream, your liver
and kidneys will have to eliminate them, which is an added burden for these
organs. Even worse, ruined nutrients, or carcinogens, cause reactions between
other nutrients and wreak havoc on our bodies, leading to cancer and
inflammation.
Hydrolytic
Cleavage
You probably know that I like to eat a lot
of my animal foods raw but there are some meats which are not at all
easy to digest this way, namely, the muscle meats. The reason is because they
are tough and in order for our digestive systems to easily use them they need
to be broken down in some way. This might be accomplished with an acid such as
vinegar or lemon juice, fermentation (as in dried or rotted meat), or by
cooking.
Hydrolytic cleavage is the process by which moisture trapped inside the meat
while cooking actually slices the strands of protein, thereby tenderizing the
meat. Additionally, this trapped water prevents proteins from fusing together
and making the meat much less digestible.
How
to Properly Cook Your Meat
In order to avoid the toxins created
in the cooking process, you should cook your meat with moisture either from
water or from fat.
- Cook meat submerged in soups
- Always trim the fat after cooking, not before. Fat helps to trap moisture in the meat.
- Wrap meat in foil when cooking on the grill so as not to lose moisture to the fire.
- Cook meats along with vegetables.
- Add a coating of stable fats to the meat before cooking (like butter or lard).
- Avoid cooking fast on high heat.
- Slow cook.
You know your meat is overdone when
you slice it and don’t see drips of moisture. Check the meat often and take it off the fire before it
dries out.
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