Microwave...?

That's the way I feel about microwaved meats.. but, our mw's are about 18 yrs old.. maybe they have improved?? This carcinogen thing has been going around for years.. some researcher says it's an issue.. then it dies out.. but, man has been BBQing since he found how to make fire..

Cancer has been around for many years as well but seems to be on the upswing in the past five or so decades. I think cancer is caused by something else.. maybe too much processed foods or ??? I ain't agonna quit Q until definitive research with humans is published. Not overfeeding lab rats..

I'm up for new ideas...but not this one.

Although I'm sure it will generate some discussions.

The carcinogens created from grilling aren't created from smoking, go to the Food Science site and check it out. Has to do with the high heat.

So, Nope, not for me, no microwaves here for my BBQ.

Even thinking about it makes me think about boiling ribs. Why is boiling different from a microwave (I know the answer...it's rhetorical)

Collagen won't break down because a microwave does it's thing, otherwise you could microwave a brisket...don't EVEN think I'm serious. IT takes a long and specific application of heat to cause this.

I have a question I've been waiting to ask for a while:

There is almost a 100% correlation between bladder cancer and people that smoke(cigarettes). If you smoke, it dosen't guarantee that you will get bladder cancer, but if you get bladder cancer, it means that you almost certainly smoked.

Anyway, I know they put stuff in cigarettes that won't come out of hickory or oak logs, but I wonder if there is an increased risk from heavy consumption of smoked foods. By increased risk, I don't mean a .00012% increase in risk. If I worried about stuff like that I'd wear a respirator all the time and sleep in a storm shelter away from power lines, rivers, and roads. I'm talking more about a 10% additional risk, or at least something significant. Has anyone ever seen a study?

Ya know,I been doing this a few years and I know a lot more real old pitmasters than I know real old doctors.

Tom, are they really old or do they just look that way??

With some of the posts I read here, like the Vegas buffets putting the guy's picture on the wall, I don't think carcinigens introduced from grilling are his primary threat.

As for carcinogens, the way I've read it is when meat is grilled the rendered fat falls into the fire causing a carcinigous smoke or vapor to coat the meat. So that wouldn't apply to most offsets, but it might with other vertical smokers (without a water pan) or even in a Cookshack with fat dripping on the smoke box cover. But I'm not sure.

My thinking has always been, as infrequently as I enjoy a grilled steak, this is something I personally don't worry about. And I'm pretty careful about what I eat.

Good point Tom. I never looked at it that way, but I know my share of 80+ yo pitmasters.

And Dennis, "the Vegas buffets putting the guy's picture on the wall", that would be me you're talking about, but I make up for terrorizing buffets by exercising daily, not smoking and rarely drinking. Like maybe 2 drinks a year. And I've never had a beer or cup of coffee in my life. Really. So I kill a buffet from time to time, nobody's perfect.

But I don't worry about getting cancer from food either. It just struck me as a possibility with lots of smoked foods being part of one's diet that there might be some risks. I've lost several family members to one form of cancer or another over the last few years, and I was amazed by some of the clinical information I found regarding certain types of cancer and their correlation to certain activities.

If your daughter read it in the newspaper, it must be true.

I read a book called Junk Science Judo, self defense against junk science.

I now question everything I read or hear from the media. They don't report positive findings.

Check out www.junkscience.com search barbecue/cancer and it will come up. Read it for yourself.

There is a lot of other junk science debunked in there, global warming, second hand smoke [some studies show it beneficial], GMOs, etc.

Good Luck! Roger

If we're all going to live to be 100, I better buy stock in nursing homes.

I remember reading something about that too�.it had to do with blackening the meat and high heat. It seems if you scrape off the blackening and ate three pounds of just that a day for six years your chances of getting cancer increased 30% or some such figure.

Paul Harvey said once on his radio show:

�I wonder if there�s anything left in the world, that, if given in sufficient quantity, wouldn�t cause cancer in laboratory rats.�

"They don't report positive findings"


Truer words have never been spoken! I love the ads for local news that the Tv stations run during sweeps in my area. Stuff like: "Find out what common household item can be deadly. Watch news at 11 for information you need to protect yourself from this deadly threat".

Then at 11, "Scientists have found that mixing Clorox and ammonia together can cause toxic, even deadly, fumes to be emitted. Our science correspondent suggests that for maximum safety, you avoid mixing these chemicals." Duh! I don't even watch anymore. It's just too stupid.