Cancer can be caused by PAH and HCA formation from grease drippings onto charcoal heat...big deal. My parents gave me their charcoal grille years ago and converted to propane, when the study came out. I still use their grille. They died, but not from cancer.

I love to grill meat, veggies, and fruit over charcoal and will continue to do so. There are so many carcinogens in our environment I can't eliminate them all, so why would I eliminate the one I enjoy the most?

What I do avoid is breathing the smoke, burning the meat, and I don't use petroleum distillates (lighter fluid) to start my fires, using an electric starting iron, instead. I slow smoke with the meat not over the charcoal, and only use the charcoal heat to brown and sear the meat, veggies, or fruit.

I am convinced, though it has never been proven, that propane grilling is more damaging to our health than charcoal is. I might be wrong, but it's my theory and I'm sticking to it. I do use a propane grill occasionally. It is much more convenient than lighting a charcoal fire for two people to grill one piece of fish or a steak, but I don't do it often, preferring real charcoal for most events, and I think it tastes better.

I have wondered, recently, how much damage charcoal does to the environment, greenhouse gases, and global climate distortions (that's global warming, if you couldn't tell). I will give up many things that will have more positive impact on the environment before I will give up my charcoaled steaks, though; mesquite or hickory chips, making my neighbors envious as they sniff the aroma and start finding excuses to come visit me in my back yard. Yep, charcoal will be the last to go, carcinogens and all.

What I will share, here, which might help your exposure to carcinogens, is a trick I now use to serve the best steaks I can, and it minimizes the exposure to charcoal. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees, then grill your steak to almost the perfect temperature, for me that is medium rare, and then remove the steaks from the grill. Allow the meat to rest, while coating it with butter or olive oil, chopped fresh garlic, and kosher salt. The juices will be drawn into the steaks as it rests (that is "as it cools" to the novice), along with the additional flavors. Then pop the steaks into the hot oven for two to three minutes before serving. They will be the best steaks you will ever eat. I now don't season before gilling aolmost everything, since I'm convinced the problem is that the salts and sugars we use to season do burn, which causes a bitter flavor, and that might be what was causing cancer, not the meat itself, but what do I know?

People often say, "Ooh, yuck," when I add this part: If you are serving just two or three people, you can actually re-warm the meat in a microwave (on high). It actually works quite well. Now, how dangerous microwaving meat might be, I have no idea. It is hard on your reputation as a great cook, I can promise, but they still come back for more, so it can't be that bad.

Learn more about this author, Will Kester.
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