Nothing says summer more than the feeling of the sun on your neck and the smell of hot dogs on the grill. With this exciting time of warm nights and barbecues coming up, here at Cornerstone we wanted to give our top five tips on how to have the best barbecue for your guests.
- Keep all your perishable ingredients in the fridge until you’re ready to serve them. Often with a barbecue people are grazing over a period of time so you want to avoid taking food out before it’s necessary.
- Wash your hands before handling food to avoid any cross-contamination. If you touch raw meat or fish, wash your hands before touching ready-to-eat foods and do not put ready-to-eat foods on plates that have been used to carry raw meat or fish. You also want to avoid using any utensils for both raw and ready-to-eat foods.
- Don’t leave food out in direct sunlight, pick a shady spot or indoors for your buffet table. Don’t leave food out for more than two hours. The safest option is often to throw away leftovers.
- Whatever you do, don’t press down on burgers or chicken (or anything) with a spatula while they’re grilling! This squeezes out the juices and once they’re gone … they’re gone!
- After your grill is preheated, use a brass-wire brush to scrape the charred goo and gunk off of the grate. You’ll need to give it a good scrape at the beginning of grilling season. Then, during grilling season, a quick brush before and after grilling should do. After you grill your last meal for the summer or fall, leave the grease on the grate to prevent rusting over the winter.
These are our top 5 Tips to ensure that your BBQ is the only one your friends want to go to. Happy Grilling!