Food Safety : Cooking Temps

Safe Minimum Cooking Temperatures

Use this chart and a food thermometer to ensure that meat, poultry, seafood, and other cooked foods reach a safe minimum internal temperature.

Remember, you can’t tell whether meat is safely cooked by looking at it. Any cooked, uncured red meats – including pork – can be pink, even when the meat has reached a safe internal temperature.

Why the Rest Time is Important

After you remove meat from a grill, oven, or other heat source, allow it to rest for the specified amount of time. During the rest time, its temperature remains constant or continues to rise, which destroys harmful germs.

Category	Food	Temperature (°F)	Rest Time
Ground Meat & Meat Mixtures	Beef, Pork, Veal, Lamb	160	None
	Turkey, Chicken	165	None
Fresh Beef, Veal, Lamb	Steaks, roasts, chops	145	3 minutes
Poultry	Chicken & Turkey, whole	165	None
	Poultry breasts, roasts	165	None
	Poultry thighs, legs, wings	165	None
	Duck & Goose	165	None
	Stuffing (cooked alone or in bird)	165	None
Pork and Ham	Fresh pork	145	3 minutes
	Fresh ham (raw)	145	3 minutes
	Precooked ham (to reheat)	140	None
Eggs & Egg Dishes	Eggs	Cook until yolk and white are firm	None
	Egg dishes	160	None
Leftovers & Casseroles	Leftovers	165	None
	Casseroles	165	None
Seafood	Fin Fish	145 or cook until flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork.	None
	Shrimp, lobster, and crabs	Cook until flesh is pearly and opaque.	None
	Clams, oysters, and mussels	Cook until shells open during cooking.	None
	Scallops	Cook until flesh is milky white or opaque and firm.	None

Food Safety : Sell by, Use By Dates

Grocery Stores use sell by dates, use by dates, and expiration dates as a guideline to help you determine the freshness of perishable products.

But what does all that mean? How can you be sure that a product is fresh, safe, and ready to eat? To help you understand the difference among these dates, here's a quick explanation of their meaning.

Sell by date

Indicates how long a vendor can display a product on the shelf. To ensure you get the freshest product available, I recommend that you buy perishable items on or before the sell-by date. Normally a few days before this date grocery stores will make the product down so that it will sell before it has to be discarded.

Use by date

Indicates the last date recommended for use of the product while it's still at peak quality. The product's quality and freshness is guaranteed only up to that date.

Expiration date

Indicates the last date that the product can be sold. Remember, even if a product date expires during home storage, a product should be safe and of good quality as long as the safe handling and storage instructions printed on the label are followed.

Frugal Confessions

I always thought that you needed an ice cream maker in order to make homemade ice cream. Maybe this misperception was not entirely my fault; almost every magazine ice cream recipe gives you a list of ingredients to put together and then ends the directions by saying “freeze mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.” That is, until recently. About six months ago I began to find ice cream recipes in magazines such as Woman’s Day and Rachel Ray that did not require an appliance. I was intrigued! Then when Nigella Lawson, my new favorite chef, whipped up a Margarita Ice Cream by simply mixing the ingredients together and setting it in her freezer, I knew that it was time to give some of these recipes a try.

As I gobbled down my first batch of homemade vanilla ice cream two weekends ago, I couldn’t help but be thankful for finding recipes that broadened my homemade-horizon. Now we can have it all: save money from having to purchase a small kitchen appliance (between $20-$80) as well as eat deliciously creamy ice cream with just three natural ingredients.

Not only was I thankful, but I was inspired to research other small kitchen appliances that the world can do without.

Texas Chili Sounds the Alarm

looks like a place to visit on my next trip to Dallas..


Travel Channel - Tolbert's in Dallas

Tolbert's Restaurant

Food Safety at the Office

Food safety doesn't stop at home. Try these tips for food safety at the office.
A catered lunch

• Never leave perishable — food such as milk, cheese, and other dairy products; eggs; meat; poultry and seafood — at room temperature for more than two hours.
• Once fruits and vegetables are cut, it's safest to limit their time at room temperature to a couple of hours.

Double-dipping

• Please don't double-dip at an office party — that is, dip, take a bite, then dip again.
• The best defense against double-dipping may be a good offense. Beat the double-dippers to the dip by putting enough dip on your plate the first time to enjoy with all your chips.

Dissing the dishcloth

• Do you have an office dishcloth that's used for everything from wiping the tables to washing plates and cups? Did it start out white but now it's gray? Encourage the use of disposable paper towels to wipe off the sink and tables.
• Place your food on a napkin or paper towel rather than directly in contact with the table surface.
• Wash coffee cups in a dishwasher or in hot, soapy water using a freshly cleaned dishcloth. Then rinse with hot water and air dry.
• Don't re-contaminate clean dishes by drying them with dirty towels, especially towels that are also used as hand towels.
• If you have little control over how cups are cleaned, bring your own cup that you can clean appropriately. Also, keep special cups on hand for serving coffee to visitors.

Refreshing the fridge

• If your office doesn't already have one, start a policy of a weekly tossing all foods left in the refrigerator.
• Be sure to post a sign on the refrigerator so no one is caught unaware.
• A food is saved only if there's a note on it requesting it be left until a specific date.

A handy tip

• Hand washing is considered the single most important means of preventing the spread of infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
• If you need a helpful reminder, contact your local health department for a free poster about this subject.

Food Safety - General Rules

Keep your food safe with these helpful handling and storage tips.

Clean start to a safe meal
Play it safe when preparing meals. Keep all raw meat separate from any ready to eat products.

• Off limits. Never place raw meat (beef, fish, pork, chicken) on top of or over ready-to-eat foods in the refrigerator or shopping cart.
• Wash up. Wash hands and utensils thoroughly with soap and warm water after handling raw meat.
• To each its own. Keep two cutting boards on hand: one for raw meat and one for everything else.
• Last one in. Don't placed cooked food in a bowl or plate that has been in contact with raw meat.
• All gone. Remove all food particles from the dishes and pans before placing in dishwasher. Utensils should be loaded with handles up.
• Clean it up. Sanitize dishrags and sponges in the dishwasher or washing machine. Clean and sanitize counters after each use with antibacterial cleansers and paper towels.

Hot tips on safe cooking temperatures
Meats and poultry don't have to be well done, but they should be cooked well.

• Put it to the test. Be sure meat is cooked thoroughly by taking its temperature with a meat thermometer in the thickest part.
• Be careful. Make sure you use a thermometer that has been thoroughly washed before using.
• Best burgers. Cook hamburgers to 160 degrees or higher in the center.
• Perfectly pork. Cook pork to a perfect 155 degrees in the center.
• Prime poultry. Cook chicken to 165 degrees at its thickest part for prime safety.
• Wash, dry, use. Wash the thermometer after every use and dry it with a paper towel.

Cool ways to store food safely
Storing foods promptly and safely is the easy part of eating well and staying healthy.

• Cool it. Keep your refrigerator at 32 to 36 degrees F.
• To eat or not to eat. Don't eat leftovers or opened packages of lunchmeat after five days.
• Check it twice. Make a list of refrigerated, frozen, and perishable items and their storage lives.
• The dating game. Label leftovers with the date you placed them in the refrigerator.
• Time to go. Once a week, check your refrigerator for food items that need to be thrown away.
• Clean it and mean it. Clean and sanitize your refrigerator and freezer on a regular basis.

The high five of hand washing
Clean hands can be your key to good health:

• The Center for Disease Control says the best way to protect yourself from colds is washing your hands.
• Wash first. Always wash your hands before cooking dinner and before you eat.
• Beat the bug. Wash your hands more frequently when you're around someone who’s sick.
• Sing it. Thoroughly washing your hands means using soap and warm water for about the amount of time it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice (approx. 20 seconds).
• Pick paper. Dry your hands with a paper towel. Don't use cotton towels that have been used by someone else.

Chicken Wings for Game Day

Top 10 Chicken Wing Recipes

The Most Popular and Best Chicken Wing Recipes at Barbecue & Grilling

Chicken Wings are great for any occasion. They are even better when grilled up with all that extra smoky flavor. These chicken wing recipes represent the best and most popular I have. Grill them up as appetizers, snacks or for meals and put them out for the kids or the big game. Chicken wings are quick to cook, easy to prepare and are loaded with flavor making them the perfect chicken piece.

1. Super Smokers Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings

These chicken wings are one of the most popular appetizers at Super Smokers BBQ. The sweetness comes from honey and the kick comes from using the hottest, spiciest barbecue sauce your taste buds can handle. You will need apple wood chips and a disposable foil pan for this recipe.

Recipe

2. Very Best Buffalo Wings

These chicken wings take the classic appetizer to a new level with a marinade that keeps them moist and tender. These wings are also full of flavor.

Recipe

 

3. Chinese Chicken Wings

Like chicken wings? Try these Chinese-style wings on the barbecue grill for a little variety. Like all great chicken wings, these have a fantastic smoky flavor, but watch them closely when grilling because they cook fast.

Recipe

 

Read Full List

Super Bowl alert: Chicken wings

Oh no say it ant soooo.......

Super Bowl alert: Chicken wings will cost you

Wholesale price of wings was up 26% in December

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -

When it comes to the Super Bowl, there's lots of chatter about the millions of dollars spent on ads and the sky-high price of tickets.

 

But what will really hurt your wallet come game day? Chicken wings.

 

Every year, the cost of the beloved game-time grub shoots up at the end of January as restaurants gear up to feed the masses for the NFL's big showdown.

 

Prices usually go down soon after. But that drop never happened last year, because sweeping droughts in the Midwest drove up feed prices, agricultural experts say. As a result, the price of chicken farming, and therefore wings, has been gradually increasing.

 

Read Full Article