A home economist with Manitoba Pork Council is recommending barbecuing as one of the healthier low fat ways of cooking. With the arrival of the warmer summer temperatures outdoor barbecuing peaks in popularity.
Home economics consultant Marlene McDonald says barbecuing, along with baking, grilling, broiling or roasting, is one of the recommended methods for healthy cooking. “When you’re looking at a nutritious cooking method, we’re looking at methods that either minimize the fat in food by limiting the amount that’s added during cooking,” says McDonald. “That would be like frying or deep frying or deep frying where you’re using a lot of fat. On the other hand, if you’re doing something like grilling or broiling or barbecuing, you’re cooking the meat on a grill somehow and the excess fat is dripping away so you don’t have it retained in the meat.”
While reduce the fat, other things come into play too when cooking healthy such as limiting salt and sodium. Additives for barbecuing are marinades; often soy sauce or salt or barbecue sauces and the soy sauce and barbecue sauce do have a lot of sodium. “People who are on sodium restricted diets or watching to minimize the use in their diets would want to avoid using those items, probably, in marinades or added to the foods,” she said. “An alternative would be to use herbs or spices in a dry rub to give the flavor to replace what you might find in a soy sauce or a barbecue sauce. It won’t be the same flavor but it will be an alternative flavor.”
McDonald says the other thing people should do is trim excess fat from the meat and look for the lean cuts of meat.