Thrill at the Grill: Grilling the Right Way

Thrill at the Grill: Grilling the Right Way

The weather is warm and the outdoors are calling for your presence. It’s time for those smoke filled cookouts and family reunions, gatherings, or anything else that will allow you to go in the yard and spark up that lighter fluid drenched charcoal. Regardless of the situation, we now you’ll enjoy cooking and eating outside all summer long. Here at SUAVV Magazine, we wanted to make sure that you do it in the healthiest of ways.

Wash your hands!!!!
Always, wash your hands with hot, soapy water before and after handling food. Not only is it nasty to go to the bathroom and not wash your hands, touching food is even worse. TAKE YOUR NASTY ASS BACK IN THE BATHROOM AND WASH YOUR HANDS!

Marinate not Contaminate
That brown stuff that you see your chicken soaking in on the counter, That’s aunt Portia’s secret marinade. The secret is that it needs to go into the refrigerator. When marinating for long periods of time, it is important to keep foods refrigerated. just in case you think that marinade made your food extra good, doesn’t mean to go and drizzle it over your cooked food for more flavor. You’re never supposed to use sauce that was used to marinate raw meat or poultry on cooked food. It is still contaminated with salmonella. That causes a serious case of the bubble guts. Boil used marinade before applying to cooked food if you want to be a little risky.

Grey coals, not fire.  
Yeah, we’ve all had that experience when the wrong person is working the grill and your food comes back well done on the outside and raw on the inside. This is because the heat is too high. Charcoal should be lit for 20 to 30 minutes grey and lightly coated with ash before putting meats on the grill. Leave the ‘Flame Broiled Burgers’ to Burger King.

Temperature Gauge for Cooking Beef, Chicken, and Fish.
As far as the temperatures for certain foods, hamburgers should be cooked to 160º F, while large cuts of beef such as roasts and steaks may be cooked to 145º F for medium rare or to 160º F for medium. Cook ground poultry to 165° F and poultry parts to 170° F. Fish should be opaque and flake easily. Find a meat thermometer at any grocery store. You may look a little extra, but you won’t look sick the next day.

Stay Away from that Same Old Plate
There should be two separate plates when cooking on the grill, the one that the raw food is on and the one that the cooked food is put onto. To be safe, try using the foil recyclable roaster pans They already come in packs of two or three so it makes it easy to separate.

Icebox
A full cooler will maintain its cold temperatures longer than one that is partially filled so it is important to pack plenty of extra ice insure a constant cold temperature. Keep salads with mayonnaise in the cooler as well. Warm mayo is a disaster. Also, keep the drink cooler, ice cooler, and the food cooler separate. We all have someone that will put the dirty ice in their cup. The rule that “God made dirt and dirt don’t hurt” really isn’t too sanitary. It may not hurt you but it will send you to the porcelain thinking pad.

All in all, have a wonderful grilling summer. Pull out the stereo, call up the family and enjoy the weather. Keep the red cups off of the ground because you know somebody’s child is going to come and knock it over.

Interested in learning more about food safety? Visit the “Fight BAC! website at www.fightbac.org