Hot tips on healthy cooking

MANILA, Philippines - Grilling is a healthier way of cooking food than frying. When foods are fried, they absorb a lot of fat. Even if the food were a low-fat item, it ends up with a high-fat content when fried.

Grilled food also has a lower calorie content than fried food. This helps in weight management and keeping fit. Reduced fat intake helps to lower bad cholesterol levels in the blood. Healthy cholesterol levels improve cardiovascular health.

Grilling your food ensures that you get more value out of your food. This is because of the shorter cooking time involved when you grill. It results in minimal loss of moisture and vitamins from vegetables. This ensures that much of the nutritional content is retained in the food when cooked.

The latest buzz on grilling is Crossray technology. Not only does it reduce the fat in food, it also avoids the flare-ups and charring from grilling that have been known to increase health risks in humans. From recent studies in the US, charring the meat can create compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) that might be capable of causing colon cancer, lung cancer, or breast cancer if consumed extensively.

A traditional barbecue has burners located directly beneath the cooking surface, so any fat will drip directly onto the flame. When the fat is ignited by the flame, it can create flare-ups which burn your food, and create smoke. Crossray® burners are located in the walls of the firebox so it’s impossible for fat to drop onto the burners, minimizing the chance for smoke and flare-ups. These surface combustion burners emit infrared heat which is angled onto the cooking surface in a cross-wise manner, hence the term crossray.

Best of all, because it makes use of infrared technology, it produces very high uniform heat very quickly. This high heat is crucial in grilling as it seals in the moisture and juices in food, thereby adding to its flavor. The result is tasty, healthy, and safe grilled food.

Crossray technology is available in Grand Hall grills which were recently introduced in the Philippines by distributor Fabriano, Inc.. Now, barbecue lovers can take a look at Grand Hall’s T-Grill as well as Odeon models which are on display in Shangri-La Mall (4th level, inside Ariston showroom, telephone number 631-8282).