Grillin’ Safety

Lesson

Clean your grill. Every time you use it.

You’ve heard the old maxim: “That’s a seasoned grill. All that caked-on stuff adds great flavor!” Not true. To properly cook most foods, the grill must be clean. You wouldn’t leave grease inside your oven or on your stovetop burners, so don’t leave it on your grill.

Clean surfaces that chicken, chops, or steaks touch during preparation, too.

Scrub every surface on which the meat was placed, and that touched the meat. Use hot, soapy water. Then take a capful of bleach per gallon of water, and use the mixture to rinse surfaces. Wipe or air dry.

Handle raw meat carefully.

Wear rubber or plastic gloves whenever applying rubs, cutting meat or poultry, or otherwise handling food.

Store food properly.

• Allow food to come to room temperature before grillin’, cover it, and don’t let it sit un-refrigerated longer than 20 to 30 minutes. Longer than that and you’re inviting bacteria to your BBQ.
• Keep all meats, fish, poultry, and dairy below 40°F if uncooked, or higher than 140°F if cooked.

Use a water pan to prevent flare-ups on the grill.

We place a shallow pan of water on the grill nearly every time we cook, and for just about everything we cook. (This technique is described in our lesson on Direct and Indirect Cooking.)

The water pan adds moisture to what you’re cooking, stops grease splatters and fires, and helps keep the temperature inside the barbecue consistent. Sometimes, when cooking fatty foods, such as duck, we place the water pan right on top of the grill to prevent flare-ups.

Use an instant read or digital (remote or wired) meat thermometer to determine when your food is done.

Using one guarantees you’ll have a delicious, safe, and appealing barbecue. Relying on cooking time can leave you with undercooked or unpleasant meat.