How to barbecue safely
The most important rule when barbecuing, to ensure your food is safe to eat and cooked to perfection, is to make sure that any raw meat is handled carefully, kept separate from cooked meat, and cooked thoroughly. Even if the meat is charred on the outside, it may not be cooked in the middle. This is particularly important for burgers and kebabs made with mince.
Tips:
Defrost frozen beef and lamb safely overnight in the fridge
Remember to wash your hands
Use separate utensils for raw and cooked meat
Avoid putting raw meat next to cooked or partially cooked meat on the barbecue
Cook burgers until they are piping hot with an internal temperature of 80°C (for beef) and 75-80°C (for lamb), with no pink areas in the centre
To take the guesswork out of things, use a digital temperature probe or meat thermometer. If you are catering for a huge crowd and are really organised, meat can be partially cooked in the oven and finished off on the barbecue as friends arrive.
If you are marinating meat you have to take extra care to avoid food poisoning. Keep marinating meat in the fridge until you are ready to use it. Discard the marinade when you have put the meat on the BBQ, using a freshly made marinade to baste your meat while it cooks.
This page was created on: 18/05/2009
Last modified: 18/05/2009
