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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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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Cajun Injector Electric Smoker

!±8±Cajun Injector Electric Smoker

Brand : Cajun Injector
Rate :
Price : $179.00
Post Date : Nov 21, 2011 05:50:50
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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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