Long-term consumption of fried food is very harmful to the body, and in severe cases, it can lead to cancer. Fried food contains carcinogens. How can we reduce the carcinogens in fried food...
When frying food, strictly control the oil temperature. It is best to keep the oil temperature below 150°C during frying. Do not let the flame get too high. When frying fish and meat, do not continuously cook at high temperatures. Use a method of intermittent frying to control the maximum oil temperature no higher than 150°C. This is the most effective way to eliminate carcinogens such as heterocyclic amines and mutagens in fried food. If the oil temperature exceeds 200°C, the frying time should not exceed 2 minutes.
Coating the outside of the fried fish or meat with a layer of starch batter before frying can also effectively prevent the formation of heterocyclic amines and mutagens.
Clean the oil from impurities promptly. When frying food, small dregs or crumbs are often left in the pot. After being repeatedly fried for a long time, they will turn black and charred, producing many harmful substances. Once they adhere to the surface of the food, they will be harmful to health after consumption. Therefore, when frying food, prepare a fine-meshed strainer or skimmer to promptly remove the impurities from the oil.
The water-frying method saves oil and is healthy. Supermarkets have many semi-finished products coated in frying powder, such as popcorn chicken, chicken chops, etc. When processing this type of food, you might as well abandon the deep-frying method and try the water-frying method. The specific method is to put a little oil in the bottom of the pan, add a spoonful of water, and use the steam to heat and steam the ingredients. After the water evaporates, a small amount of oil will crisp the bottom of the food. Food made by the water-frying method is crispy on the bottom and soft on top, fragrant on the outside and tender on the inside, with the same great texture, but the fat content is not high and it is relatively healthy.
Pair it with green leafy vegetables. When eating fried food, control the portion size. If one dish in a meal is fried, the other dishes should be light and low in oil, preferably salads, steamed dishes, or stewed dishes. Green leafy vegetables contain a large amount of chlorophyll and antioxidants, which can reduce the mutagenic effects of carcinogens in fried food to a certain extent.
Wash the pan immediately after stir-frying. After stir-frying a dish, be sure to clean the pan before stir-frying the next dish. Because the black carbon deposits on the pan will produce carcinogens such as benzopyrene when repeatedly heated, posing a threat to health. In addition, do not let the oil remain in a boiling state for a long time, because when cooking oil is heated to over 270°C, the smoke will contain a large amount of benzopyrene, which, when inhaled, can easily increase the risk of lung cancer. After stir-frying, don't rush to turn off the range hood; it's best to keep it on for another 20 minutes or so.
Finally, it needs to be reminded that "non-fried food" should not be equated with "healthy food". Many non-fried foods add a large amount of artificial cream, shortening, etc., to increase the crispy texture and flavor, and their fat content is not low. The sodium or sugar content is also not lower than similar products. Many non-fried puffed foods, such as shrimp crackers and baked potato chips, have a fat content of over 15%, and some can even be as high as 30%, which is no less than fried food and is not worth recommending.