Barbeque and Grilling Blunders - Learn to Eliminate Outdoor Cooking Mistakes that Kill Your Cookout

Your <strong>average backyard cook</strong> is no expert in the barbeque or grilling field. He has no television shows on the Food Network. He has no grilling cookbooks out. Nor has any of those been part of his lifetime goal.<br>

No, your average outdoor cooking enthusiast makes more mistakes with bbq grilling than you could ever imagine. The meat ends up dry and tough time after time, despite marinating for hours. Or the meat is burnt or cooked too long.<br>

These mistakes are made time and time again because your average backyard cook usually does not know any different. He does not automatically know <b>How to Barbeque</b>.<br>

Here are some of the more common mistakes and <b>do's and don'ts</b> made in bbq grill cooking:<br>

<b>1)</b> If you started with frozen meat, make sure the meat is thawed completely. Trying to cook the inside of a still-frozen piece of meat is next to impossible without burning the outside.<br>

<b>2)</b> When using a charcoal grill, try to start the fire without charcoal lighter fluid. Lighter fluid taste will always get into your meat no matter how much you cook the coals down first. A <b>chimney starter</b> makes starting the fire a breeze. It also allows you to add charcoal along the way should the coals burn out along the way.<br>

<b>3)</b> Never poke the bbq meat with a fork after cooking has begun. This is one of the most common mistakes and one of the most deadly for your barbeque. When poking with a fork, the juices will run out of the meat and right into the bottom of the barbeque pit or grill. Your meat will be dry and less tender. Use a long set of <b>tongs</b> to turn the meat.<br>

<b>4)</b> Lower the heat. Except for grilled steaks, which need a quick searing, cook slowly over low to medium heat. Lower heat is much more manageable and it will make the meat tender and juicy.<br>

<b>5)</b> Quit lifting the lid to check the meat. Every time you do that it changes the temperature inside the bbq grill or pit. Air from you opening the lid acts like a sponge and dries the meat up. Opening the lid also increases your chances of flare-ups.<br>

<b>6)</b> This is more of a food safety mistake. Do not put the cooked meat back on the same plate or platter that the raw meat was on without washing it first. Mixing the cooked with the raw just begs for someone to get sick.<br>

<b>7)</b> After removing the meat from the bbq grill or pit, let it rest for at about 5-10 minutes. Cutting into or slicing the meat immediately after pulling it from the cooker will cause all the juices to flow out of the meat and onto the platter.<br>

Of course, these are not all of the mistakes made by the amateur outdoor cook, but are some of the more common. But if you will prevent doing these yourself, you will eliminate many of the things that cause barbeque failures.<br>

Your guests and family will wonder how come your grilled or barbequed food is so much better then it used to be. And, who knows?...Maybe the Food Network will come looking for you.<br>

Windex and Food: Imperfect Together!

As tempting as it may be to use, Windex or any similar type product can be a hazard to use in the vicinity of food products, particularly cutting boards. If you do not have the proper sanitizer available, a certain “secret” common household item will suffice. Please read on to find out how you can keep your guests safe!

Our web community for business flight attendants can be frequently found discussing proper food handling and food safety tips. One lively discussion a few years back surrounded the proper way of cleaning a cutting board. Might I add that the food preparing area of the typical business jet galley is about the size of a two-by-four? Thus, food can easily get into contact with the wrong products if extra care is not taken.

In the conversation, one of our members remarked that she had cleaned her cutting board with Windex. Well, the ensuing responses to her comment nearly caused an online riot as many of our veteran fliers responded by emphatically stating that products such <i>409, Fantastik, and Windex</i> can all be harmful if ingested. These and similar products contain high levels of white spirits or similar type toxins, something you never want your guests to come in contact with. These products typically carry warning labels that say something like the following, “Do not ingest even in small quantities. Non-food safe.”

Our beloved and uniformed newbie member was aghast, not at the replies, but at realizing that she had cleaned her cutting boards not once, not twice, but at the very least four or five times using Windex! Although no illnesses were reported because of her error, she quickly amended her cleaning methods from that point forward to use a special sanitizer designed for the safe cleaning of her cutting board. Naturally, all of our members were thankful that she was no longer a potential poisoner of the jet set crowd.

So, just what is that little “secret” common household item that can be used when the proper cleaning agent is no longer available? Actually, <b>there are two</b>: diluted white wine vinegar or . . . vodka! Yes, vodka can be used, but it does have the tendency of altering the taste of subsequent dishes . . . not necessarily a bad thing, but it does leave a residue. The recommendation, of course, is to have white wine vinegar on hand if a sanitizer is not readily available.

Please, please use the previously recommended cleaning agents only on surfaces that <b>do not</b> come into contact with food. You may not kill your guests, but you can certainly make them very ill by using the inappropriate products.