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To Reduce the Health Risk of Barbecuing Meat, Just Add Beer
PolygamousRanchKid (1290638) writes "Grilling meat gives it great flavour. This taste, though, comes at a price, since the process creates molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which damage DNA and thus increase the eater's chances of developing colon cancer. But a group of researchers led by Isabel Ferreira of the University of Porto, in Portugal, think they have found a way around the problem. When barbecuing meat, they suggest, you should add beer. The PAHs created by grilling form from molecules called free radicals which, in turn, form from fat and protein in the intense heat of this type of cooking. One way of stopping PAH-formation, then, might be to apply chemicals called antioxidants that mop up free radicals. And beer is rich in these, in the shape of melanoidins, which form when barley is roasted."
(The paper on which this report is based, sadly paywalled.)
Whoever posted this summary really should have added that. There are other places where one might consider adding beer that would be less effective. You don't have to get past the paywall to find that.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
What a stupid article. Beer is hardly the best source of antioxidants. Blueberries would be a far better choice.
"Eat antioxidants to prevent cancer" ....well thank you captain obvious, we have known this for many years!
My beer belly ;D
What kind of imbecile conflates grilling and barbecue?
"polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which damage DNA and thus increase the eater's chances of developing colon cancer"
Pretty rare to start with, so I suspect it's from "one in a million" to "1.5 in a million".
We have actual things to worry about, grilling isn't one of them.
but in Europe people have been BBQ with Beer for decades. It's a default style of BBQ when you don't have any special marinades or sauces.
It just took them this long to run a scientific study about it (I guess someone finally asked the question WHY).
Point being, everyone always disses folklore/common sense, and even though people did not know why they were basting with Beer, now we all know.
If you want to drink the Beer instead, that's your prerogative, but I say, bring enough for both drinking and basting. :)
Skip the beer...use blueberry wine!.
Do I have to souse the meat in beer, or can I just drink it with my BBQ meat?
I volunteer to be the subject.
The thing I hate most about science is the "guessing game". You either know, or you do not. Stop giving advice based on guesses.
did you forget to take your meds?
Can drinking beer the same time as eating these foods have any effect? I already do that.
plenty of hard clinical studies showing no link whatsoever between free radicals and cancer (or other claimed bad effects like aging).
the 1970s called, they want their junk science back.
Apologies if asking sounds like blasphemy, but it's still an honest question.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Also barbecuing and grilling aren't the same thing. One, hopefully, does not barbecue a steak.
It's obvious Slashdot didn't learn. Now instead of moving users completely to beta randomly they are randomly sending pages of beta when we are trying to get the real thing.
If they don't stop this crap, maybe it's time for another boycott. These assholes never seem to learn.
You are supposed to marinate meat in Lagunitas because it tastes good. Then rub it down with curry powder because it tastes good. Then eat it with a Stout, because it tastes good.
The crap they feed you in the old folks home in your last extra year of life you got from eating crappy food tastes worse than the crappy tasting food you ate to get an extra year in that shithole in the first place.
Apologies if asking sounds like blasphemy, but it's still an honest question.
Surely, you'd accept death gratefully
I agree - DDT is just awful unless sweetened with a little saccharin.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Don't use the good beer. Use the Miller Light that's been sitting in your fridge since someone brought it over months ago.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
There is an incredible variety of beer - it's just fermented grain flavored with anything you like. They can be bitter, sweet, or just about any other flavor - some companies even flavor them with massive amounts of sugar and flavorings like a soda... It is hard to believe that you don't like any of them.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Step 1: "Souse" yourself in beer
Step 2: Light the BBQ and hop in
Step 3: ??????
Step 4: Profit!
Grilling and barbecuing are not the same thing
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
Since we're discussing Porto, try the local delicacy which is an artery-hardening meat sandwich featuring beer gravy!
Oh no! We're all gonna die if we eat BBQ'd meat.
As with anything like this, the worry warts will probably buy into it.
Remember when they said: Saccharin, DDT, and the zillion of other things that are suppose to be bad for you?
My mother grew up in the deep back woods of east Texas during the 30's. A very big part of her diet growing up was various forms of smoked, dried, and grilled meat. A *lot* of such meat, often that was about all her diet was in a day, either by itself or was the main flavoring component. Many members of her family, both close and extended including herself and both her parents developed and died from colon and intestinal cancers. Her younger brother is suffering from it now. Many of the people who lived around her did, too. The thing is, once her family got out of that situation (improved economy, moving to the big city, etc) and ate a much more varied diet that didn't depend on smoked meat, the amount of familial colon and intestinal cancer has dropped down to almost nothing. That's good news for me and my siblings, of course. Dying from colon cancer is not my favored way of death, to be honest. It was a rough way to see my mom go.
-> I dislike sigs...
cooking with beer is not the same as drinking it, you should be just fine. My brother hates beer but loves when I make chilli because I use a good stout in it
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
As far as colon cancer is concerned, there is a lot of common sense here. I doubt a tiny little factor like anti-oxidants on your beef is going to make much difference if you're an overweight smoker in your 50s. Having beer around might encourage you to drink heavily, which is listed there as increasing risk. So. If you already like beer marinade then great. If you don't, then there's virtually no reason to use a recipe you don't like. Concentrate on the elephant in the room before addressing the mouse.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
That's right, and you don't have to use good weed to make hash...
There you wouldn't care about getting dying from cancer because there would be no reason to live.
Now lets have some under 21's use this to be able to buy beer.
It may make for an interesting court case.
Heck, there was even a guy who ate DDT, didn't bother him
Except the part where he died.
I've tried quite a few.... never found one that I liked. Not saying that none could ever possibly exist that I'd find palatable, but I imagine that any that do are probably really exotic and cost an impractical amount to use for something like marinade.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It is not the researcher's fault that typical media coverage of research pigeon holes things as either "bad" or "good.' It isn't even just the media's fault, because when they do give more detail, people will only remember that something is just bad or good. But yes, in the real world there is different scales of bad, and there can be things that are both bad in good in different ways, by different amounts, meaning it is difficult to label a lot of things as "bad for you" with out taking into account some sense of scale, dosage, and what other things you eat/take/do.
That's because you drink cheap crap beer.
Pick any two semi-random, wildly incompatible foods/ingredients in an effect to create a ridiculous nonsense combination and someone will have always done it before, and loved it.
"Herher, that' makes as much sense as chilli icecream..."
-"zOMFG, I LOVE chilli icecream!"
"G'day, can I get a grilled cheese sandwich?"
"Oh an Aussie hey, well why don't I just make you a grilled cheese and vegemite sandwich!?"
-"OMWTFG, that'd be awesome, I grew up on those!"
I thought all experiments should have a control group, but BBQ without beer... Has that ever been tried before? Can than be credited with two discoveries?
Dip it in chocolate for extra protection, but make sure the meat it coated in salt first so you can soak up more chocolate.
My wife hates beer, but she loves those sweet malt beverages. I do brats on the grill that were first boiled in beer and I add beer to chile and stews and she never complains (or notices, for that matter).
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I'm afraid that I'm not enough of a stoner to know whether you are being sarcastic or not. But Miller Light is not "bad" as in low-quality, it just doesn't have a whole lot of flavor and so goes unused. SAB knows how to brew and their products are very high-quality and consistent.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
My situation is the opposite... I don't like beer, but my wife does. Conversely, however, she dislikes the taste that beer gives to something when it is used as marinade... she'd rather just eat the meat and drink the beer.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
When the message is drink more beer I'm willing to accept an article at face value.
According to my physician father, the first proven case of an environmental cause for cancer was that of smoked meat and fish in Iceland causing colon cancer. This is a long established relationship, not a recent fad.
They are consistent and what their customers want, they remain piss.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Bullshit. If it contains anything but water, malted barley, hops and yeast it is a cereal malt beverage, like Zima and American Budweiser.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
glad your not dying
Alcohol itself is a risk factor for all kinds of gastrointestinal cancers, including esophageal, gastric, and colon.
As a rabid vegan, I would humbly suggest, that if by the year 2014 you do not understand the effects of eating animals: you could just simply drop dead.
To get sick, get others sick, destroy land, air, water, cause unnecessary suffering in the name of "delicious" or "you need protein" is something we should not have to tolerate anymore.
Look at the poor health of your planet and the people around you! If you still don't get it, well, the 12 monkeys should return and you should be on your way out.
No.. I am serious.... Yes, burnt grease makes you die and alcohol makes your stupid, so how about ... well, eat some salad, tomatoes and beans if you want protein...
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com...
Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken. --- Bertrand Russell.
Those people are from Porto, they just ask to not waste port wine for the marinades.
They are using this technique ever since here in Holland with horrible results. In fact the more beer the higher the accident rates.
-- 29A the number of the Beast
Indeed. I had a neighbour who gupled down a bottle of DDT. That's why I refer to him using the past tense. ;)
Don't you agree that a stuff that's meant to kill bugs should be a poison? At least taht's what Captain Obvious told me the last time I saw him
or maybe we could use butter and marmelade to kill plagues. You are the expert, maybe you can convinve Monsanto ;)
-- 29A the number of the Beast
By cooking over a low heat first you ensure that the meat is cooked evenly throughout, and then you sear the outside over a very hot grill. Otherwise you end up with raw inside and black outside. By searing last you get the flavour and evenly cooked meat.
The other option is chocolate which is even higher in antioxidants! Chocolate BBQ Ribs!
If it comes down to eating grilled steak and getting colon cancer or eating beer-flavored steak and maybe not?
I'll choose colon cancer.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Correlation does not equal causation. Repeat this until you understand it. Darwin weeps to see science misused in this way - although as a Texan, you dumbasses have never understood science anyway.
Thanks, troll. I didn't make the correlation, a good number of oncologists have. They and their associates have seen a lot of it over the years. Diets heavy in smoked and grilled meat do have a correlation with increased chances of colon and intestinal cancers, especially if those diets start early in life.
And I never said *I* was a Texan, thanks for asking. Proud native Floridian. Some might suggest that's not any better, but hey... :)
-> I dislike sigs...
There are a HUGE range of beverages with vastly varying flavors which fall into the category of "beer". How many styles have you tried? There are lots of alternatives to the fizzy yellow stuff sold in 30 packs.
I can imagine that a big imperial stout, doppelbock, or barleywine might make a great marinade for steak.
Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
How did this get modded up? Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers, has a crappy longer term survival rate (compared to other cancers), and is one of the cancers that is easier to prevent or deal with by catching risk factors early. Lifestyle is far from a minor effect too, as rates vary a lot from country to country, with higher rates present in developed, western countries.
FTFY:
If it contains anything but water, malted barley, hops and yeast it is a cereal malt beverage, like Zima, American Budweiser, Japanese spiced beer, Belgian beer, traditional beers from any place that had trouble getting barely, traditional beers based on recipes from before hops being the dominant bittering agent, oatmeal stouts, any beer using a clarifying agent, wheat beers, German Gose beer, and many others.
Aren't we the stickler for government regulations! I don't really care if the alcohol exceeds some government mandate or if the "wrong" grain is used. It's all beer.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I agree, which is why it sits in my fridge so long. It's still a perfectly sound ingredient for something like a stew or (I imagine) a steak marinade.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Drink the freaking beer, you are all good.
It tastes great!
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Don't use the good beer. Use the Miller Light that's been sitting in your fridge since someone brought it over months ago.
I banish thee to the firey pits of culinary hell.
If it's not good enough to drink, it's not good enough to cook with.
Save that crap beer for the people you don't like your brother in law or that annoying friend who never brings his own beer.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Perhaps I used the wrong word. It's not "bad" beer, it's just not overly flavorful. I will drink it, and even enjoy it, if given no other options. I might even select it preferentially to some of the overly hoppy stuff that is popular these days.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Well, there's no winning that. If the boss doesn't like beer marinade, it's a non-starter :)
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I thought that was under the salamander? You know the dish warmer, and then they go very heavy on the salt. But cave men didn't like the flavor the flame imparted, then there would not have been any flavor but the coppery blood.
I'm afraid that I'm not enough of a stoner to know whether you are being sarcastic or not. But Miller Light is not "bad" as in low-quality, it just doesn't have a whole lot of flavor and so goes unused. SAB knows how to brew and their products are very high-quality and consistent.
I don't know what kind of beer you drink, but for me this is the definition of bad.
This. Cook with what's good to drink. Same goes for wine, I hear, but I don't really drink it that much.
I use Westvleteren when cooking, which should annoy any beer snobs out there. :)
If his was the only evidence, certainly, charcoal grilled meats have been linked with digestive system cancers for a while now (Japan and hibachi grilled fish.. stomach cancer, grilled steaks intestinal and bowel cancer).
You whining about it is like someone whining about a person who smoked all their lives and all the other possible causes for lung cancer..
Nice causative link though, you being a clueless asshole makes people dislike you, and mod you troll.
He tried to kill me with a forklift!
My father-in-law in Lubbock, Texas ate back-yard barbeque almost every day, and despised what he called "rabbit food" - that is, anything green. Grilled meat, mashed potatoes, and bread-and-butter and beer pretty much made up his diet. He died of stomach cancer before his 55th birthday. Anecdotal, yes, but the agony of the last few months of his life was educational, and the rest of the family has taken care to eat a better diet since then.
Use it as a hair rinse or setting gel. Works great, and believe it or not it doesn't leave an odor.
And I never said *I* was a Texan, thanks for asking. Proud native Floridian. Some might suggest that's not any better, but hey... :)
Well, in terms of your diet, and its impact on your health, I'd say it's way better. More veggies and fruit, and more seafood...
I generally like to try stuff from local breweries. I'm like a kid in a candy store in those beer distributors. I've had "bad" beer, where I've actually had to refuse it - mostly from dirty taps. But I've also had some homemade beer that I think would fit the universal definition of "bad". The big brewers simply don't make mistakes that lead to "bad" beer, but they definitely make beer that I subjectively don't really like. Miller Light is one of those, but so are the vast majority of these double and triple hopped things that burn a hole in my stomach.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
This thing is full of ifs and maybes. This is neither news nor science. It is speculation.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
Would it not be just as effective to pair a meal with a few good beers? Does the beer have to be added when cooking or can said beer be added while eating?
Hope is the currency of fools
I think you mean to say "welcome death gratefully."
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Don't use the good beer. Use the Miller Light that's been sitting in your fridge since someone brought it over months ago.
Next question: Does Coors count as beer for these purposes? We know it doesn't count count as beer for personal consumption, but I'm wondering if the same principle holds for cooking meat with it. Clearly further study is called for.
Presuming you are talking about Coors Light... I've never tried it for cooking, but it might be so far in the "water" side of the spectrum that it no longer imparts any flavor at all. :)
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Exactly. All not beer.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
I'm going to drink a nice red grape beer with my steak dinner. Maybe put some Irish distilled beer into coffee.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
The only thing I got from this is: boy, some grilled steak sounds good, I'm going to fire up the grill tonight.
Most people would consider fermented fruit some kind of wine. I've had something described as barley wine before, but it was just very strong beer.
Whiskey and beer wort is very similar, so you might be on to something with the "distilled beer" comment. Never heard it described like that but it gets the point across. If you go on a whiskey tour, they introduce you to the mash, wort, and brewing process before getting into distillation. I think most people would insist on having their beer fermented, though :)
Even the Germans gave up pretending beer was only made from barley. The wheat prohibition ("purity law") was political anyway.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Germans never had a law outlawing wheat beer. They were just not allowed to call it beer. Which is fair, wheat 'beer' tastes so bad it is actually improved by adding fruit and/or leaving the yeast in it.
Claims that the purity law was passed to prevent the use of all the wheat, making beer, is just neo-prohibitionist nonsense.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
If you are basing this on the Reinheitsgebot, then there were quite a few of those beers that predate it (even in the original form from centuries ago), and were still called beer. The Reinheitsgebot had exceptions for some regional varieties, still allowing them to be called beer, while other varieties that had existed for centuries were banned. Regardless of what you prefer to drink and what some governments try to impose, that doesn't redefine what is called beer in general (e.g. some governments impose ~2% alcohol limit, that doesn't stop others from being beer). And yet there is no confusion with wine and distilled products from people not trying to play dumb about it.
I like wheat beer. I don't like fruit in beer in general, and in fact despise the trend of sticking a wedge of citrus on the glass.
Either you or Wikipedia is wrong. If it is Wikipedia, please get in there and fix it rather than wasting your time correcting just me :)
The Reinheitsgebot was introduced in part to prevent price competition with bakers for wheat and rye. The restriction of grains to barley was meant to ensure the availability of affordable bread, as the more valuable wheat and rye were reserved for use by bakers.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Didn't ban anything. Just couldn't call it beer.
I'm not trying to get Coors banned. Just accurately labeled (fucking close to water).
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
The using a different name was a loophole only used after German reunification for a couple years before the law changed in 1993. When the Reinheitsgebot was applied to all of Germany after the original German unification, it was a ban, not on name, but on actual brewing. Look at the original text, as it says nothing about what it is called but forbids brewing. Many beers associated with northern Germany disappeared after unification. Bavaria was scared unification would bring easier access to a wider variety of beers, and made it a central issue to their joining of Germany. It wasn't until 1988 that you could import other beers.
In my experience, it essentially tastes like the container it is served in (typically aluminum).
I'm not sure I've ever had it in a can. I must have, I just don't remember. The only time I have it is when a bar my dad likes has "wing nights" with cheap pitchers of Coors Light. Between the burning tongue and my penchant for "anything on draft", it's not the end of the world.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.