Page 10 - January 2022 Barbecue News Magazine

There is no real advantage to leaving food sit at room temp before cooking, and there is a risk. Bacteria double every 20 minutes at room temp. In fact, smoke sticks to cold food better than warm.
Microbes do not penetrate whole muscle meats very well, so the interior of a fresh steak is pretty safe. Any bugs on the surface are killed instantly by the heat of cooking. But chicken is different. When chicken is processed, it is usually dunked in water to loosen the feathers. The water should be hot, should contain antibacteri- als, and should be changed often, but it can become contaminated easily with salmonella, especially since the animal hasn’t been eviscerated yet. During and after the gutting process, chicken meat is often in contact with water and potential sources of con- tamination. Chicken meat is also more porous that beef. As a re- sult, one should always handle chicken as if it is radioactive. Leaving it sit out at room temp is dangerous. It should go directly from fridge to cooking, and all surfaces that are in contact with chicken must be cleaned thoroughly, preferably with a cleanser that has chlorine, such as Comet.
If you rinse meat in the sink keep the water pressure low so you don’t splatter bacteria on the counter, clean dishes in the dish drain, and on the faucet handles. When you are done you must wash the sink thoroughly. Cleansers with bleach such as Comet are good for cleaning sinks, counters, and cutting boards. Scrub your sink often!
Wrap raw meat tightly and put it in pans or on platters. Store raw meat so it cannot drip on other foods.
Sponges are the most contaminated thing in the kitchen, but put- ting a wet sponge in the microwave for two minutes will pasteur- ize them. Do it weekly.
Do not use a fork or the Jaccard blade tenderizer to puncture meat and tenderize it unless you will be cooking it past 160°F. These devices puncture the surface and plunge into the meat cutting through tough fibers. In the process they also push any surface contamination down into the center of the meat. If you are cook- ing Texas style brisket or beef ribs up to 180°F or more, as they are usually cooked, no prob. But if you are cooking a steak to 130°F for medium rare, then you risk contamination and a tummy ache or worse.
Cooking must be done at an air temperature of 175°F or higher unless you are cooking sous vide, in a vacuum sealed plastic bag hot water bath. That means your oven, frying oil, or boiling water must be above 175°F.
Cook to the proper temperature. I don’t care what the cookbooks say, you cannot tell if meat is cooked properly by its color or the color of its juices. This is especially important for chicken, turkey, ground meats, and sausage if it is not precooked. They are more susceptible to contamination. When the meat is done, if you aren’t serving it within 60 minutes, you must keep it warmer than 135°F.
Be sure to clean the probe on your thermometer after you are done using it.
Even if the meat is browning, the juices bubbling to the surface may be contaminated. You can use a marinade as a mop or a bast- ing sauce, but remember, painting meat with a brush and dipping it into a marinade or sauce contaminates the meat, brush, and
marinate. You cannot use a used marinade as a baste during the last 30 minutes of cooking or as a dipping sauce at the table.
If you wish to use marinades or bastes as a sauce, you must bring them to a rolling boil for at least a minute and even that is not foolproof because some spores can survive boiling. It is better to discard them.
Be sure to discard bastes or mopping solutions after you’re done cooking. They are contaminated with raw meat juices. You cannot save them for future use.
The best way to baste or apply a barbecue sauce is to spoon, pour, or spritz the liquid onto the meat. Especially if you leave it sitting out during the cook. If you must use a brush, use one that is easy to clean and sterilize such as the new silicone brushes.
So you don’t waste sauce by dipping the brush into the bottle and contaminate the sauce in the bottle, pour the sauce you need into a cup or bowl and dip your brush or spoon into the cup or bowl.
If you are a guest in someone’s home and you see them using an unsafe method such as putting cooked chicken on a platter that has had raw meat, politely but firmly, speak up!
10 - BarbecueNews.com
JANUARY 2022
And this very good advice from my friend Brad Barrett at Grill- Grates: Be careful with the adult beverages. Pay attention to what you are doing. Brad claims he once hit the daily double: A hang- over and Montezuma’s revenge. And he is sure that one led to the other.
Your motto:
When in doubt, throw it out.
Meathead is the BBQ Hall of Famer who founded AmazingRibs.com, by far the world's most popular outdoor cooking website. He is the author of "Meathead, The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling," a New York Times Best Seller that was also named one of the "100 Best Cookbooks of All Time" by Southern Living magazine. More on his book here: https://amazingribs.com/book. For 2,000+ free pages of