Food Chemistry and Toxicology fell for it, and published the results of this gastronomical experiment in 1997. Grab a pen if you're up for a scientifically-proven marinade recipe. The group found that if you grill chicken without marinating it first, it not only tastes lousy, it has a lot more HCAs. In what must be a scientific first, however, it was reported that a mixture of olive oil, cider vinegar, garlic, mustard, lemon juice and salt protects grilled chicken against HCAs. The first time they tried this, one of the backyard scientists added brown sugar and messed the whole thing up.
Sugar forms a special type of amine when it's cooked at high heat.
Not to be outdone, researchers in Hawaii held a good, old-fashioned luau in the name of science, and threw in some special, ethnic marinade recipes. They cooked up pork chops, sausage, bacon and ham. Broiling meat doesn't seem to create much of an amine problem. Pan-frying, however, is amine city. Ham got off the hook, having few amines, and links didn't do too bad.