Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Safe Cooking Barbecue Tips

By Natasha Johnson

Everyone loves a good barbecue with all the great smells and tastes. A few quick tips and tools will help make sure that everything comes out safely and properly cooked. One of the things that people often forget is that the food on your grill is cooked by the heat and not by the flames. You might think the big glowing flames look great, but they are not getting your food cooked the whole way through. Keep the flames low and keep an eye on the temperature settings.

The second most important thing in grilling is temperature. Different types of meat require different cooking temperatures, and different cuts of those will require different times as well. Keep a barbecue thermometer handy to keep track so that you don't end up with undercooked meats.

And now we get into the tools and gadgets to have by your side while you're cooking on the grill. The thermometer is important, but you'll also want some cooking tools, such as tongs, spatulas, and a fork, all with long handles especially for grilling. You want your barbeque cooking utensils to be at least 12 inches long, thick and sturdy for flipping even the biggest of steaks and turning turning all those ears of corn from a safe distance.

There is actually one other thing that would be really good for starting out, but, it is not for cooking - it is for cleaning. It is a brush for cleaning the grate of the grill between uses. So much stuff gets stuck on the grate and the brushes made for cleaning them work wonders in scraping all of that junk off of there, so your food doesn't wind up tasting like last week's meal! - 15634

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