We’re getting you ready for the holiday weekend, and one very popular Memorial Day activity is to fire up the grill and have a BBQ. While everyone wants to relax and have a good time, one thing you don’t want to forget about is food safety.
No one wants the party to have to end early, so our resident foodie, Michelle Oliver, met up with Greg Antioho, the Director of Culinary Operations for Maru Hospitality Group, to get your food safety checklist. Here’s what he recommends:
- Double up everything - To prevent cross-contamination think in the rule of twos. You will want two trays or cutting boards, one for your raw meat, and one for your finished meat. The same thing goes for tongs, spatulas, and other utensils. If you don’t want to use two, then wash the items between use.
- Get a thermometer - The best way to know if that steak is cooked perfectly is to get an accurate meat thermometer. You should stick the thermometer in the thickest part of the meat. Ground beef and pork should cook to 155F, the chicken should cook to 165F, and larger cuts of meat like steak and pork chops should cook to 145F.
- Use an ice bath - Serve up your cold sides, like potato salad, or raw-cut fruit, in an ice bath. As soon as you take them out of the fridge you have about 2 hours to eat them, keeping them in an ice bath will help. Another option is to serve them in smaller portions. So, leave your big vat of potato salad in the fridge and just serve it in rounds out of a smaller bowl. If you don’t want to worry about a side, consider something like chips and salsa.
Watch the video above for more great food safety advice.