What I avoid

I do have a list of foods that I avoid (not to be confused with chemical additives to food that I avoid… a post for another day). One of the categories of food I avoid is processed meat. Deli turkey. Pastrami. Hot Dogs. Bologna. Like trans fats, it seems that studies done on heart disease shows a link with high consumption of processed meat, but not meat in general. The scientists don’t know exactly why (seems the more they study, the more they don’t know). In addition, this week in USA Today there was a story how anyone over 50 (LIKE that’s old or something) should not eat deli meat unless it’s heated to over 150F, because of a risk of listeria (a type of food poisoning more commonly associated with raw milk), especially fatal to the elderly and pregnant.  Just one more little piece of data to help just walk by the deli counter when shopping.

As a side note, I do eat bacon, salami, and prosciutto, especially when made by small suppliers, using traditional methods. In limited amounts. After all, this diet is an evolution: any diet that isn't, is hard to maintain.

But deli meat is pretty easy to avoid. It’s easy to just cook some extra meat (chicken, pork, etc) to use that for sandwich or salad. Or have tuna, or eggs. Or peanut butter. Or Turkey.

BBQ Turkey

It’s good to have a thermometer on your grill for this, although I’m sure you can get there from trial and error. Flames and lots of smoke BAD

Rub:

1 teaspoon of each:   Chili Powder (I like Ancho, but anything works, even Paprika for the spicy-adverse), Cumin, Coriander, Salt, Brown Sugar. And maybe some Tumeric.. something I will try next time I make this. Wood chips (mesquite or other).

Mix rub ingredients in a small bowl, then rub all over the half breast. Place in plastic (Zip-loc) bag and then into the refrigerator 4-8 hours.

About 30 minutes of starting to cook, place about a cup of wood chips in a bowl of water to soak. Prepare a drip pad to go under the turkey from foil, or use a small purchased foil pan. Place in the center of the grill, then light. Heat a gas grill for indirect heat (front and back on my grill). Using a double layer of foil, make a packet of the soaked wood chips, seal up, and then poke several times with a paring knife.

Put the foil packet directly on the burners (under the grill), pull the turkey out of the bag, and on the grill. Turn down the heat.. goal is to achieve about 325 ^oF. On my grill, this is on the low side of medium. Expect to cook about 25 to 30 minutes per pound, until an instant read thermometer reads 155.