Food Safety Tips for Barbecuing

Filipinos love to barbecue all year round, but especially when the weather starts to get warm. As with any type of cooking, it’s important to follow safe food handling guidelines to prevent harmful bacteria from spreading and causing foodborne illness.

At the store

When at the grocery store, buy cold food at the end of your shopping. Raw meat may contain harmful bacteria and so it is important that it be kept separate from other grocery items to avoid cross-contamination. Put packages of raw meat in separate plastic bags to prevent meat juices from leaking onto other foods. Always refrigerate perishable foods within one to two hours, especially in warm weather. For longer transport times, bring along an insulated cooler to hold perishables.

Storing raw meat

In the refrigerator. At home, store raw meat in the refrigerator immediately after you return from the grocery store. Freeze raw poultry or ground beef that won’t be used within one to two days. Freeze other raw meats if they won’t be used within four to five days.

Marinate meat in the refrigerator, not on the counter. If you want to save some of the marinade to baste cooked meat or use as a dipping sauce, make sure to set some aside in the refrigerator that hasn’t touched uncooked meat. Don’t use leftover marinade that has been in contact with raw meat on cooked food.

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make sure to keep raw meat away from other foods, including vegetables such as lettuce and tomatoes. You can do this by packing meats separately or by making sure they are wrapped separately, so that juices don’t leak out onto other foods;

use separate utensils, cutting boards, dishes and other cooking equipment when handling raw and cooked meats. For example, do not place cooked meat on the same plate used to bring the raw meat to the BBQ. Raw juices can spread bacteria to your safely-cooked food and cause foodborne illness;

wash your hands carefully with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling raw meat;

clean all your cooking equipment, utensils and work surfaces, and then sanitize them with a mild bleach solution.

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Thawing and Cooking

Plan ahead. Thawing of meats should be done in the refrigerator, not on the counter. Sealed packages can be thawed in cold water. Microwave defrosting is acceptable if the food item is placed immediately on the grill. Meat should be completely thawed before grilling so that it cooks more evenly.

Cuts of meat to barbecue vary widely from region to region. Beef and pork cuts are most common, although poultry (chicken and turkey) is also widely prepared, and lamb and goat are regional favorites as well.

Barbecue has its roots in using tougher, less valuable cuts of meats. But today some barbecue establishments even cook prime rib as one of the menu items.

Knowing the cuts of meat is important in understanding how best to cook products, how many servings you will get from them, their costs, and their versatility. On top of knowing the cuts, there are meat grades, private brands, grass-fed, natural, organic, heritage, and other different marketing terms that add a level of complexity to selection of the cuts to use in barbecuing.

Especially with beef, understanding all of the meat options for barbecuing is the first and foremost area that is to be learned by the barbecue enthusiast.

– Packertrimmed briskets typically come from the packer pre-vacuum packaged. As the name indicates, these were trimmed as they were “fabricated” or removed from a beef carcass. That usually indicates the brisket will still be covered with a thicker fat, which many barbecue enthusiasts prefer for long-time cooking. A packer-trimmed brisket is usually the entire beef brisket versus a brisket point or brisket flat, which may be found at a local retail store or meat market.

Brisket points are the anterior or forward end of the brisket and is typically fatter – both covering the brisket as well as between the muscle fibers. Brisket flats are considerably leaner, both in fat covering and especially in the muscle itself. Briskets tend to have high levels of connective tissue, which require longer cooking times at low temperatures. Yields of cooked, trimmed lean are approximately 50 percent of the raw weight of the brisket.

Briskets

Clods

– Clod is not the most appealing name for a meat cut, but a beef clod can be an excellent choice to barbecue for a large number of edible portions. The beef shoulder clod is fabricated from a beef chuck, or the shoulder area of a carcass. It includes a number of muscles that range from extremely tender to somewhat tough. Overall, the muscles are inheritably more tender than the muscles in a brisket; so slow, low temperature cooking will help minimize muscle differences. The internal temperature of the cooked clod may not need to be as high as a brisket to achieve the same or even greater tenderness of the meat; however, shoulder clods may be double or even triple the size of beef briskets, so plan cooking time accordingly.

– Beef tri-tips are fabricated from the lower portion of a beef sirloin and have more of a sirloin flavor. Although not heavily used for barbecue applications, it is in many places the standard “meat of choice” for barbecuing and even grilling. Beef tri-tips include only one muscle – the tensor fasciae latae, and muscle fibers follow the same path, allowing for easy cutting “across the grain” to aid in maximum tenderness. The cut can usually be purchased with a fat cover on one side or completely “denuded” (a term used in the meat industry to denote muscle that has had virtually all the fat removed from the outside of the cut). Internal temperature of a tri-tip can be much lower than previously mentioned cuts and still be tender. Tri-tips are much smaller (2 to 3 pounds) and edible portion can be close to 100 percent for “denuded” to approximately 70 percent for those with a layer of subcutaneous fat.

– Beef back ribs are the “upper” portion of the seven ribs (usually ribs 5 to12) that are attached to a beef rib or ribeye. The rib bones are removed along with the rib intercostal muscles that are located between the ribs, so you can always distinguish beef back ribs from beef short ribs by the location of the major lean deposits on the rib. A rack of beef back ribs will weigh 3 to 5 pounds, based more on the length of the ribs than the amount of lean left on them. Beef back ribs contain larger amounts of connective tissue, so slow, low temperature, and even high-moisture cooking is recommended.

Tri-tips

Back Ribs

Short Ribs

– There are two areas of a beef carcass where short ribs are obtained. The first area is an extension of the previously mentioned beef back ribs. This area, commonly referred to as rib, plate or just short ribs is the most common area of the carcass used for short ribs. The portion of the rib used can be anywhere from 2 to 6 inches in length and typically includes some lean and fat overlying the rib bones. The major muscle in “meatier” short ribs (usually the three most anterior or toward the front of the rib) tends to have a great deal of “intramuscular” fat commonly referred to as marbling. Although marbling is often equated with tenderness and flavor, short ribs should be considered as one of the cuts requiring long-time, lowheat cooking for maximum tenderness.

A second area of the carcass used for short ribs originates in the beef chuck. This portion is commonly referred to as chuck short ribs. Chuck short ribs are typically sold with four ribs (ribs 2 to 5) in the cut and the major muscle overlying the bones. The muscle tends to have a great deal of “intramuscular” fat commonly referred to as marbling. Although marbling is often equated with tenderness and flavor, short ribs should be considered as another cut requiring long-time, low-heat cooking for maximum tenderness.