The Garden Barbeque Offers More Than Outdoor Grilling

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Barbecue cooking has become a mainstay of many households around the world, especially since the economic crisis of early 2008. After all, if you are trying to save money from your household cooking budget, why not have beautifully barbecued sausages, steak, chicken, potato and onions, instead of boiling these ingredients into a tasteless mash! And if the weather is good, why not enjoy standing outdoors cooking instead of being trapped in your kitchen area.

The advent of cheap yet efficient outdoor grilling devices, many involving barbeque cooking with gas, has made outdoor grilling a very attractive option in these difficult economic times. However, instead of buying a cheap gas barbecue cooking device, why not consider paying a bit more and adding value and worth to your home at the same time. The way you do this is to make your garden barbecue area a masterpiece, a living and attractive extension of your kitchen into the great outdoors.

Your garden barbeque can become an attractive asset to your home. You can still have the convenience of gas, which in our modern society is one of the most efficient means of outdoor cooking available, but instead of having a cheap, portable barbecue cooking surface you can build your outdoor grilling surface into a magnificent kitchenette, just outside your back door. In fact, my outdoor barbecue setting displays a beautiful stainless steel front, two large grilling surfaces and placeholders for barbecue sauce bottles and utensils, as well as a cunningly hidden garbage compartment.

My garden barbecue setting is my pride and joy on my veranda, allowing me to look across the back yard and beyond as I am outdoor grilling, with a cool drink in hand, chatting with my visitors. My garden barbecue provides the perfect opportunity for the guys to gather together, talk about cars or football, and enjoy the smell of slowly barbecuing meat and vegetables.

So when you are buying a barbecue, don not purchase an outdoor grilling surface based on price or convenience. Consider creating a garden barbeque masterpiece, that will not only serve you, your family and friends on those wonderful, steamy summer nights, but will also provide an asset that will increase the value of your home, make it more attractive to buyers, and yield far more money than you initially inject into creating your garden barbecue masterpiece.

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Grilling the Perfect Steak or Not?

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One of America's favorite ways to prepare food - summertime, or not, is 'on the grill.' Nothing tastes better than steak or chicken that has been cooked on an open flame. However, the reality is, that anytime you cook meat at high temperatures, you create some nasty chemicals -- HCA's (heterocyclic amines,) PAH's (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,) and AGE's (advanced glycation end products.) Still thinking of grilling the perfect steak?

HCA's - unquestionably the worst byproduct of grilling -- are carcinogenic chemicals that show up in the blackened or charred section of the food. PAH's, also carcinogenic, are transferred into your food by the smoke that results when excess fat drips on the heat source. And AGE's, which result from the high temperatures, can build up over time and lead to oxidative stress; inflammation; and increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease.

Additionally, over-cooked meat is harder to digest, making it more difficult to absorb and function effectively at a cellular level, leaving cells undernourished and working less efficiently.

So, assuming you still want to, how can you enjoy the convenience and taste of grilling, and minimize some of the risks?

I believe in the 80-20 rule. If you maintain a healthy diet - one that is free of sugar and refined, processed, chemically laden food - 80% of the time, your immune system will be able to compensate for the damage caused by eating grilled meat.

So, unless your health is already compromised by illness, go ahead and follow these simple tips before you light up; they will drastically reduce the harmful substances formed by grilling:

o Marinate steak in red wine or beer for six hours; this can cut levels of HCA's by up to 90%.
o Use a sauce made of olive oil, lemon and garlic for chicken, lowering the HCA levels in grilled chicken by 90%.
o Limit the amount of grilled food you eat, and make sure there are plenty of fresh vegetables on your plate.
o Use grass-fed meats
o Trim fat and use a rack or cook on a cedar plank and avoid eating the charred, blackened portions.
o Cook meat partially before grilling, reducing the time the meat is exposed to HCA's.
o Flip burgers often.

Grilling the perfect steak is still an option - just remember the risks and take care when doing so.

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