Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Barbecue Food Safety

!±8± Barbecue Food Safety

Many friends and work colleagues have phoned in sick because of food poisoning and followed it up with something like "I had a BBQ at the weekend, and I must have eaten something not properly cooked".

To be honest I think some of them probably just drank too much but clearly there's enough of a belief out there that food hygiene is a problem at a barbeque for either a genuine day off work or a cast iron excuse.

In many of the BBQ articles that I've written I've concentrated on the phrase "sizzle is hot, flames are not" which focuses on the need to be patient and control the barbecue flames. If however you still haven't mastered this point then maybe it's time to resign yourself to buying a barbecue thermometer?

Why do I need a BBQ thermometer? Take this barbecue hamburger example:

Many folks assume that when barbecued hamburger is brown in the middle, it is well done but according to USDA research, 1 out of every 4 hamburgers turns brown before it reaches a safe internal temperature. The internal temperature must be 160°F before its safe to eat.

The bacterium we're trying to protect ourselves against is e-coli, and bacterium that live on the surface of meat. This is an important point and essential to understand because we can happily eat a rare steak without any chance of food poisoning. Provided the steak is cooked well on the outside, the bacteria are killed.

This is not the case with a hamburger however because the burger is made from ground meat so surface bacteria could be anywhere inside the hamburger.

The signs and symptoms of food borne illness range from upset stomach, diarrhoea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and dehydration, to more severe illness-even death, but having said all this, please don't be put off having some hamburgers at your next BBQ cookout. With a few simple precautions that follow the rules of basic food hygiene and barbecue food poisoning will be a thing of the past.

Use a food thermometer. Instant-read food thermometers are good for checking the internal temperature toward the end of the cooking time.

1. The food thermometer should be placed in the thickest part of the food and should not be touching bone, fat, or gristle.

2. Make sure to clean your food thermometer with hot, soapy water before and after each use!

The other option is to use a large-dial oven-safe or oven-probe thermometer and these can be inserted in the meat and used for the duration of cooking.

There are many types of food thermometers, so it is important to follow the instructions for your food thermometer to ensure the correct reading. When happy with the method of use you can refer to the USDA Recommended Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures to ensure a safe barbeque cookout.

· Steaks & Roasts - 145 °F

· Fish - 145 °F

· Pork - 160 °F

· Ground Beef - 160 °F

· Egg Dishes - 160 °F

· Chicken Breasts - 165 °F

· Whole Poultry - 165 °F

That's the main one, but to finish off here are a few more tips to help you avoid food poisoning at your next BBQ:-

1. Wash hands and surfaces often. Use warm, soapy water for 20 seconds before and after handling food and wash you're cutting boards after each food item is prepared

2. Don't cross-contaminate, always keep raw and cooked food separate. Never place cooked food on a plate which previously held raw meat, poultry, or seafood.

3. Refrigerate promptly - but do not cover (e.g. with stretch wrap) if the food is still hot
Refrigerate or freeze perishables, prepared foods, and leftovers within 2 hours or sooner.

Be Food Safe! Prepare With Care

Know how to prepare, handle, and store food safely to keep you and your family safe. Bacteria can grow on meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy products, as well as cut-up or cooked vegetables and fruits.

Follow the above and food poisoning should be a thing of the past. Why not pass this onto your employees? You may see a marked improvement in Monday morning attendance - or maybe just a different excuse.


Barbecue Food Safety

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Saturday, November 26, 2011

The Bradley Smoker Review

!±8± The Bradley Smoker Review

The Bradley Smoker is a fully featured smoker. This smoker truly delivers and does it all really well. It can hot or cold smoke, provide the ability for slow, low-temperature roasting. You can smoke your favorite foods up to 8 unsupervised hours. It does this with an automatic smoke generator that is unique only to The Bradley Smoker. Simply load the feeder with bisquettes and this automatic smoker will start loading bisquettes, one about every 20 minutes, then it will add a new one and extinguish the old one by pushing it into a pot of water. It will continue to cook or smoke as long as you keep the feeder loaded. This process works without flaw due to the quality engineering from the folks at The Bradley Smoker Company.

Bradley Smoker Review Features.

This quality smoker has a fully insulated steel exterior that is powder coated and not painted. This means that it will not rust or fade and the color will not peel off providing years of service. The interior of the insulated body is aluminum which makes it immune to oxidation which causes rust and corrosion. It comes with four nickel-plated cooking racks that are a spacious 11 inches by 15 inches that will never rust and are backed by a lifetime guarantee. Ever seen a rusted nickel? The Bradley Smoker has 572 square inches of cooking area that makes room to smoke large quantities of food. It has a cooking range of 140 deg F. to a maximum of 320 degrees. The temperatures are controlled by an infinite head slide switch, which allows you to maintain any desired cooking temperature that can be monitored by the built in temp. gauge.

The Bradley Smoker uses bisquettes that come all the favorite woods and flavors like hickory, mesquite, and apple wood. This provides the ability to have a large selection of smoke flavors. These bisquettes usually come in packs of 48 that coast about . On pack provides about 15 hours of total cook time.

This smoker is as versatile as it is reliable. Some key notes to highlight in this Bradley Smoker review is that this smoker cold smokes and also can be used as a food dehydrator, which works very well on meats, vegetables, and fruits. This smoker can easily make some very tasty beef jerky. The cold smoke feature means you can smoke your favorite cheeses. The Bradley Smoker not only provides years of quality service but save you a bundle of money as well.


The Bradley Smoker Review

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Monday, November 21, 2011

Cajun Injector Electric Smoker

!±8±Cajun Injector Electric Smoker

Brand : Cajun Injector
Rate :
Price : $179.00
Post Date : Nov 21, 2011 05:50:50
Usually ships in 24 hours



Smoky flavor and moist meat every time you smoke. The electric smoker is equipped with state of the art digital technology. Maintains continuous temperature (100° F to 275° F) throughout the cooking process. Includes: Auto shut-off, side access wood pellet chute, 5 stainless steel racks that are perfect for jerky, adjustable door latch, 2 rear wheels, 2 front legs with adjustable height and air damper. Insulated for energy efficiency. Includes food temperature probe, 2 jerky racks, rib/sausage hanger rack, new meat probe temperature display button. Two oven mitts are included. ETL certified. Exterior color: Black

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Thursday, November 17, 2011

A Recent Obituary

!±8± A Recent Obituary

In my literary life, there have been four phases:

1. When I didn't know how to read (birth to 3 or so)

2. When I loved to read! (3 until, say, 13)

3. When I hated reading and only picked up a book when it was assigned (13-17)

4. When I re-learned some passion for the written word; so much so I began to create my own (17-present)

For the last four or five years of phase #2, I'd often check out books from the public library in Montgomery City (just a hop, skip and a jump from my hometown). On Saturday mornings, you could find me sitting on the floor in the back of the library, flipping through giant picture books of warfare; everything from spears to M-16s in the Vietnam Conflict. In those shelves was where I learned the value of just how much knowledge there is in the world-and that's probably why I want to know EVERYTHING now! The rebellious, slothful teenage years hadn't kicked into full gear, so I was still able to dig books just because, well, I dig books. It wasn't yet cool to NOT like reading (something I hope teens today don't emulate.)

Anyway, there at the Montgomery County Public Library was an elderly librarian named Laura. The things I remember about Laura were 1. She was a heavy, heavy smoker (yes, this was in the days when no one seemed to have a problem with smoking in the library) and 2. she seemed to know EVERYTHING about books! It was Laura who first introduced me to J.R.R. Tolkein and the Lord of the Rings trilogy-some 15 years before the movies made "Hobbitt" a household word!

While at my parents' home last week, my Mom was flipping through the local paper when she came across Laura's obituary. Laura hadn't really crossed my mind in years, but at the news of her passing, I thought back on those Saturday mornings. I also began to remember something Laura taught me without ever even knowing she was sending a lesson along...

Another library employee who worked with Laura was profoundly disabled. I don't think I ever knew this woman's name, and my best guess is that she had a severe case of cerebral palsey. This woman would sit behind Laura's desk in her electric wheelchair, body twisted at what looked like painful angles, jerky, robotic movements to sort books into large metal bins.

What I assume was C.P. had robbed this woman of all but the most sparce of motor functions. She could grip a book, but couldn't sit it down gently. Into the big metal bin the books would go, nearly shaking the windows with the clattering "BANG!" In the years I went to the library, this woman never spoke. Guessing here, but it seemed her disability wouldn't allow her verbal communication, either.

Sitting just a few feet away from Laura, she'd do her tasks of book organizing, books banging all the while. Laura, meanwhile, checked the cards in each of my loans, talked to me about the content of each, asked me about the last books, I'd read, never once paying attention to the ruckus being raised just a step away.

Was she oblivious to the noise? Unlikely. She was, however, comfortable working with this woman and her limitations. At the first loud slam, it would have seemed proper to drop what she was doing, run to the aid of the woman at the rear, check to see if everything was okay. But she didn't. Why? Probably because she knew nothing was wrong, just accepting this woman's disability and the tiny inconveniences that went along with it. She didn't offer help, didn't hover, just let the woman perform her task.

Laura certainly never acted like her co-worker had any sort of cognitive disability. To this day, I don't know if she did or not. My guess is no. She simply lived in a body that had more limitations than almost any other I've ever met. But Laura didn't treat her like she was profoundly disabled-she just let her do her job.

Frankly, Laura's comfort level with a person of this limited ability was disconcerting to my pre-teen self. It was, however, exactly how a person with a disability should be treated: with respect, honor and without making the disability their sole identity. Some of the best lessons are taught by inaction; when a loud crash would happen, Laura wouldn't even look up. I wanted to yell, "What happened?! Is she okay?!" all while pointing toward the figure in the electric wheelchair. But I didn't. Because Laura didn't act like anything was wrong. That made me also think nothing was wrong. Laura would finish her stamping of my books, wish me luck and would turn back to her own novel and overflowing ashtray.

You know, I'm not sure I'd ever thought of this until I heard of Laura's passing, but I have to think her actions (or more specifically, lack thereof) towards individuals with disabilities helped mold my opinions. Never assume that if one's body doesn't work well, that their mind doesn't, too. Don't hover, don't coddle, don't protect-just allow that person to live his/her life and to do their job.

When I became a person with a disability, I knew darned good and well I didn't want to be treated in a way other than the respect Laura showed her co-worker. I hope this memory may remind you, faithful reader, of how to respect and honor the existence of all people, those with disabilities and those without. If there's net access in the hereafter, I hope Laura may read this and rest assured she helped mold the life of one little bookworm many years ago.


A Recent Obituary

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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

DIY Convert an old refrigerator into a meat Smoker or smoke cooker

I picked up this old frig and the parts that I used in this video at our local scrap metal yard for nothing. At most scrap yards they will only charge you for the weight of the scrap. Please rate the video and let me know if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them. Thanks for watching.

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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Spicy Venison Jerky - Delicious Dried Meat Snack With a Hot Chile Flavor

!±8± Spicy Venison Jerky - Delicious Dried Meat Snack With a Hot Chile Flavor

Jerky is considered one of the first convenience foods in America. These nutritious dried meat strips sustained many a hungry cowboy and traveler on the plains of the western part of United States.

Dried chile flakes are the traditional seasoning for jerky. They not only flavor the meat, but also help preserve it, which the Indians discovered many years ago. Chiles contain an anti-oxident that prevents meat, and meat fat, from turning rancid as it is drying in the sun. The chiles also help in warding off insects and birds through the drying process.

Even today, along the Rio Grande River Valley of New Mexico, Pueblo Indians make venison jerky. The whole process matches the beginning of deer hunting season with the harvesting of red chiles in this region.

Making jerky, and in this case venison jerky, is a very simple process at home, using your oven to dry out the meat. Jerky can be enjoyed "as is" for a snack, or it can be served in a sauce or gravy like any dried beef.

Venison Jerky Recipe

Venison round steak, trimmed of fat, and cut in strips

Pure ground New Mexican hot red chile

Salt

For the most tender jerky, cut the venison strips across the grain of the meat. If you prefer chewy jerky that has to be torn or pulled (that's where the name "jerky" comes from), then cut the strips along the grain.

Generously sprinkle the meat strips with the ground chile and salt. The more salt used, the quicker the venison jerky will dry. Place the season strips of meat on the rack of a broiling pan, or any type of rack that will allow the circulation of air around the meat and the draining away of fat.

Set the oven at 150 degrees F., and place the pan of meat in. Prop open the oven door about 2 inches to let the juices evaporate. Dry in the oven for about 8 hours, or until the jerky reaches your desired dryness.

Store the jerky in a cool, dry place that allows for circulation. Because it is very difficult to get the meat completely dried, storing in an airtight container often causes it to mold. It can also be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.


Spicy Venison Jerky - Delicious Dried Meat Snack With a Hot Chile Flavor

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