Citrus Chili Marinade – Perfect for Chicken
Citrus dressing of any kind makes grilled chicken taste great
Three Hacks for Safe Cookouts for Backyard, Tailgate or Campsite!
So you’re camping out and getting your cooking gear together! Or, maybe you’re just going to fire up the grill in the backyard and cook for family and friends. Maybe you’re gathering your tailgate supplies for the College and Pro football season. Whichever version of outdoor cooking you’re leaning towards it’s always a great idea to keep a few food safety tips in mind. Hopefully, there won’t be any problems! But here are three safety hacks that are perfect for the back yard, tailgate or the campsite. Safe Cookouts ONE – Cold and Hot - Safe Temperatures – Digital Thermometers The general rule of thumb that I mention during my chef demos is this; Keep the cold food cold and keep the hot food hot. Use ice to keep cold foods chilled while serving. Such as a bowl of pasta salad resting in a tray of ice. Never mix ice used for consumption with ice used to store food – especially any meat that could drip raw fluids. Also, cook/grill meats to their proper internal temperature. The only way to do this is with a thermometer. Personally, I use Digital Thermometers for a variety of things. I have a Digital Instant Read Thermometer that’s pocket-sized and perfect for camping and tailgating. Safe Cookouts And I have a Bluetooth Thermometer which sends the chamber temperature of my barbecue smoker to my cell phone. Plus I have a couple of older plain cooking thermometers for backups in case a battery dies. Use your thermometer to check the internal temps so you properly cook items to the USDA recommendation. This takes care of harmful bacteria that may cause illness. Temps differ from meat to meat so I’ve added the USDA Temperature Chart below. Beef, Pork, Veal & Lamb Steaks, chops, roasts 145 °F (62.8 °C) and allow to rest for at least 3 minutes Ground meats 160 °F (71.1 °C) Ham, fresh or smoked (uncooked) 145 °F (62.8 °C) and allow to rest for at least 3 minutes Fully Cooked Ham (to reheat) Reheat cooked hams packaged in USDA-inspected plants to 140 °F (60 °C) and all others to 165 °F (73.9 °C). All Poultry (breasts, whole bird, legs, thighs, and wings, ground poultry, and stuffing) 165 °F (73.9 °C) Fish & Shellfish 145 °F (62.8 °C) Source USDA.gov If the food you are serving was stored in the fridge then that food needs to be kept chilled during serving. Hot food from the grill, oven, grill or stove should [...]
The Summer Grilling Checklist
Summer Grilling Checklist - Summer is here! Grills and smokers will be fired up for holidays, family meals, and outdoor dinner parties. Now’s the time to check your outdoor cooking items to make sure they’re in good shape fair. And, it’s perfect time to a few grilling safety tips into consideration. After all, you don’t want you grill breaking before the steaks are done. And, as I say during my book signings and chef demo’s; when it comes to food safety you want your guests to remember the wonderful time and tasty meal. Not a trip to the emergency room due to food poisoning. Here’s a brief Summer Grilling Checklist! The Summer Grilling Checklist GRILL CHECK: Before using a gas grill after it’s been sitting dormant for a while you should check the lines for damage. Replace any worn burners, tighten loose bolts and nuts, clean any rusted areas and clean out debris from the last grilling session! Perform similar maintenance on gas grills and smokers. PREHEAT: Pre-heat your gas grill before using to burn off any residue from cleaners. When you light the charcoal, or fire up the gas for the first time, you might run off a few insects that have made your grill their home. CHECK YOUR FUEL: Before the neighbors come over for your cookout you should double check your fuel. There’s nothing wrong with an extra bag of charcoal or making sure you have enough fuel. CHEF TOOL SPRING CLEANING: Throw away and replace any damaged or rusted utensils, sharpen knifes, and check the batteries in your instant read thermometer. WASH YOUR HANDS AND SURFACES: This act cuts down on cross contamination. If you don’t have an outdoor sink at your grilling area then simply place several handy wipe containers around for you, and your guests, to use freely. Constantly clean around your cooking area as well. ICE FOR DRINKS & ICE FOR EVERYTHING ELSE: If you’re having more people over than you would for a normal family cookout then plan on having two containers for ice. One container The Summer Grilling Checklist holds cans and bottles of beverages that are covered in ice while a separate container holds clean ice for consumption. An ice scoop should be used as well. Any ice used for keeping food chilled should be separate. TEMPS: I’m not going to go over all of rules for keeping foods at the proper temperature. What I’ll do instead is give you a rule of thumb that I mention [...]
It’s Time to Meet the Future of Meat
Real, Cultured, or Printed? Nowadays we’re accomplishing miracles in the laboratory. It started, of course, with successful cloning, but we’ve moved on to teasing immature stem cells into making all sorts of tissues, such as skin for burn victims, miniature versions of human organs (called organoids) to learn to treat disease, and actual functional organs for lab animals that fulfill the function of a natural organ. More interesting is something that was accomplished back in early 2015. Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital grew a complete rat forelimb in a petri dish . Fingers/claws, skin, bones, nerves, blood vessels, and muscles all in the right place and functional. In theory, it could be attached to a subject and tested to see if nerve and blood vessels connections were reliable, and if the bones and connective tissue were durable. There is no reason that they shouldn’t be. Meat in a Lab Muscles, of course, are also referred to as meat, and would be fairly undifferentiated from a naturally occurring meat in texture or flavor. What would be the primary difference about meat made in a sterile laboratory? No animals would be slaughtered; there would be no parasites; there would be no fecal contamination; and, most importantly, there would be no antibiotics or growth hormones necessary. There would be no vast tracts of land necessary, dedicated for the use of our current herds of animals. There would be no concurrent crops necessary to feed all these animals as they grew to a size appropriate for the abattoir, and then the local meat market. There would be no need of veterinarian care for herds to treat diseases. It would eliminate animal suffering,because meat would not be sourced from animals at all. In other words, by just about every popular definition, it would be completely Vegan meat. Of course there are always doubters; those who think meat is bad and artificial meat would be inadequate for some other reason. It’s very much like people that protest Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods—it makes no sense–since everything in our diet is a GMO. There is virtually nothing in our diet that has not been changed. Franken-Food Everybody loves corn for instance, but 8,700 years ago in Mexico it was known as teosinte, with just a few grains per stalk that would have easily fit on top of a 25¢ coin. We crossbred many teosinte with more grains than other plants, and eventually came up with the “cob” that was dense with grain. Yet no [...]
Competitive Eater Crazy Legs Conti
Major League Eating sponsors competitive eating contests around the world. In the following interview we talk about them. They run about 80 contests a year. This is primarily an interview with Crazy Legs Conti a competitive eater and several time champion. Crazy Legs Conti uses Zen to prepare for contests. Zen is "a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism emphasizing the value of meditation and intuition."
Hot Dog Contest Competitive Eating
What does it take to be a competitive Hot Dog Contest Winner? You have to take the competition seriously.
Lemonade
Lemonade in the USA and Canada is a uncarbonated drink, basically made from squeezed lemon juice, water and sugar. It could have artificial sweetener instead of sugar. Then there is alcholic lemonade which also popular is sweetened artificially. There are a lot of variants in lemonade of the fruit nature. These usually consist of raspberries, grapefruit, grapes, red cherry, cranberries, strawberris and grenadine ( Wikipedia - describes grenadine -The Mott's brand "Rose's", by far the most common grenadine brand in the United States, [3] is presently formulated using (in order of concentration): high fructose corn syrup, water, citric acid, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate, FD&C Red #40, natural and artificial flavors, and FD&C Blue #1.[4]. There are all kinds of variations on lemonade as might be expected, it depends to what country you are referring. There are health benefits to Lemons Lemons have natural healing power. Here is a website that offers 15 Hidden Health Secrets of Lemons. Some of which are abolishing acne, cankor sore relief, curing corns and callus (something my runners feet could use help with), fight fatigue, healing hypertension, pulverize pain, varicose veins and more. Take a look at that article above. Anyway adding sugar to your lemon mixture may take away some of the benefits of lemons or at least reduce the benefits of them. Here are -
Fermented Foods, Health Fad or Fab?
Fermented Foods: The Ultimate Guide to Good Bacteria Bacteria in food? Sounds gross alright. Will a restaurant advertising “bacteria-filled” food even make a sale? People would probably just forgo this for a popular fast-food chain. But did you know that you may be better off eating some kinds of bacteria-laden food rather than munching on a bowl of fries? You see, there are two kinds of bacteria- the good and the bad. While you want to kill the latter with an antibacterial agent right away, you need to have as much as you can of the good kinds. One of the best sources of good bacteria are fermented foods. Fermented Foods? What are they? Fermentation is the process by which organic substances are transformed into simpler compounds. This is made possible with the use of catalysts such as yeasts, molds or bacteria. Fermented foods are often described by food enthusiasts as having a “unique taste” or a cross between fresh and rotten. They will not usually say that it’s delicious but some of the expensive delicacies of today have undergone fermentation, producing exotic tastes. The process of fermenting foods dates back to almost 8,000 years ago. Our ancestors developed this by chance and some even associated this with a divine intervention. Bacteria was not a known phenomenon back then but what our ancestors did notice was the energy they had from consuming fermented foods. Fermented Delicacies Foods on your shelf may not be labelled as such but some of these have undergone fermentation. Coffee beans for example are exposed to natural yeasts and bacteria when air dried, adding richness to its flavor. That wine served while you were dining out in an expensive restaurant are crushed grapes treated with yeast just like the beer you share with your buddies. Other fermented products that could be easily acquired in the supermarket are yogurt, bread, pickles, cheese, chocolate, tea, and salami. Each country have their own variety of fermented foods. For example, Korea is known for its kimchi, China for century egg and miso for Japan. Health Benefits The most popular reason why fermented foods are recommended by experts is because these are rich in lactobacilli. How can this be beneficial to your health? Contrary to common belief that the presence of lactobacilli is only beneficial for the gut, the discovery of Guts and Physiology syndrome (GAPS) established a connection in digestive processes affecting the way the brain works. The overall health of digestive system has been linked to [...]