Food Temperature Danger Zone

It's pretty easy to avoid eating spoiled food. If the funky smell doesn't warn you off, the weird color probably will.

Harmful bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli are a different story, though. When these baddies contaminate food, they do so without any physical signs, smells or tastes whatsoever. We need to rely on other methods to avoid getting sick.

Like killing the little beasties — which is really not that hard to do. Temperatures hotter than 165°F kill most bacteria within a few seconds. But to do the job, it's a food's internal temperature that has to reach 165°F, not just the outside. And with the exception of poultry, cooking meats or vegetables to that degree renders them all but inedible.

Fortunately, we have size on our side. Bacteria are really small, and it takes quite a lot of them to make us sick. So rather than killing them, and ruining our food in the process, we merely have to stop them from multiplying — or at least slow them down — so that there's never enough of them to do us any harm. We do that by controlling the food's temperature during every stage of storage and preparation. Bacteria won't multiply in the colder temperatures of a refrigerator or freezer, or at temperatures hotter than 141°F. Where they thrive is between 41°F and 140°F, a region known as the "Food Temperature Danger Zone."

To substantially reduce your chances of contracting, or passing along, a food-borne illness, make sure that your perishable foods never spend more than an hour in the Food Temperature Danger Zone. Here are some basic food handling techniques to help you do just that.

And here's a table showing the key temperatures of the Food Temperature Danger Zone.

Dry-Heat Cooking

Dry-heat cooking refers to any cooking technique where the heat is transfered to the food item without using any moisture. Dry-heat cooking typically involves high temperatures, meaning 300°F or hotter. Note that the browning of food, as when bread is toasted, can only be achieved through dry-heat cooking. This browning in turn leads to the development of complex flavors and aromas that can't be attained through moist-heat cooking techniques. Sauteing requires a very hot pan. When sauteing, it's important to heat the pan for a minute, then add a small amount of fat and let the fat get hot as well, before adding the food to the pan.

Another key is not overloading or crowding the pan. The pan must stay hot in order to achieve the desired browning of the food. Too much food in the pan dissipates the heat, causing the food to steam or boil rather than saute.

One method for maintaining a hot pan and ensuring the food cooks evenly is through tossing or flipping the food in the pan — saute actually means "jump" in French. Some saute pans have sloped sides to facilitate this, but it's generally only done with smaller pieces of food, especially vegetables. For a demonstration, here's a video on how to saute vegetables.

Pan-frying closely resembles sauteing, with the main difference being that pan-frying uses slightly more fat and slightly lower temperatures than sauteing. This makes it a good method for cooking larger pieces of meat that would not have time to cook through because with sauteing, the food isn't in the pan for very long. For that reason, larger pieces of meat are often finished in the oven after the surface has been cooked to the desired degree.

The words roasting and baking are largely synonymous in that they both describe a method of cooking an item by enveloping it in hot, dry air, generally inside an oven and at temperatures of at least 300°F (but often much hotter).

This technique cooks food fairly evenly since all of the food's surfaces are exposed to much the same degree. This differs from pan-searing, for instance, where the surface that touches the hot pan gets much hotter than the side that faces up. Roasting and baking both require that the food be cooked uncovered, so that it's the hot, dry air that delivers the heat, not steam from the food.

Despite these similarities, roasting and baking can mean slightly different things depending on who you ask. Some chefs use the word "baking" only when speaking of bread, pastry and other bakery items. Some may use the word "roasting" only when referring to meats, poultry and vegetables, but use the term "baking" for fish and other seafood. Yet another distinction can be made with respect to temperature, with "roasting" implying greater heat and thus faster and more pronounced browning.

Broiling is another dry-heat cooking method that relies on heat being conducted through the air. Because air is a relatively poor conductor of heat, broiling and grilling require the food to be quite close to the heat source, which in this case is likely to be an open flame. Thus the surface of the food cooks very quickly, making this type of cooking ideal for poultry, fish and the tenderest cuts of meat. In fact, because of the extremely hot and dry nature of this cooking method, it is customary to marinate meats that will be broiled or grilled.

Incidentally, there is one significant distinction between broiling and grilling, which is that grilling involves heating the food from below, while broiling involves heating from above. In both cases, the food is typically turned once during cooking, and a grid or grate of some kind is used, which gives the food the distinctive grill-marks that are the hallmark of this cooking technique. As with sauteing, it's critical to heat the broiler or grill before putting the food on it.

Since deep-frying involves submerging the food in hot, liquid fat, it might take some time to get used to the idea that it's actually a form of dry-heat cooking. But if you've ever seen the violent reaction of hot oil to even a tiny drop of water, you know that oil and water are a couple of opposites that want nothing to do with each other. To avoid that, make sure anything you place into the hot fat is free from excess moisture. That might mean patting an item dry with a paper towel before frying it.

Deep-frying requires keeping the oil at temperatures between 325°F and 400°F. Hotter than that and the oil may start to smoke, and if it's any cooler, it starts to seep into the food and make it greasy. After cooking, deep-fried items should actually have very little oil on them, assuming they've been fried properly.

The key to keeping the oil hot is to fry items in small batches, as introducing too much food to the oil will cool it off. Another clue that deep-frying is in fact a form of dry-heat cooking is the attractive golden-brown color of foods cooked using this method. Foods are often coated in a simple batter to protect it and seal in its moisture.

What is Food Spoilage?

Food spoilage is caused by tiny invisible organisms called bacteria. Bacteria live everywhere we live, and most of them don't do us any harm. As living organisms go, bacteria lead fairly simple lives. They don't walk or crawl, so the only time they go anywhere is when someone moves them. Otherwise, they pretty much stay put, content to spend their time eating and making more of themselves.

Unfortunately, what they're eating is our food — especially foods that are high in protein, like meats, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy products.

To be sure, some of them will go for low-protein foods like fruits and vegetables, but those ones are a lot slower. Which is why an onion or a peach left on your kitchen counter for a couple of days would still be safe to eat, while a steak clearly would not.

It's important to note that spoiled food isn't necessarily dangerous food. For one thing, most people won't eat food that smells bad, looks slimy or whatever. And you can't get food poisoning from something you didn't eat.

Moreover, the microorganisms that cause ordinary food spoilage aren't necessarily harmful to us. In fact, centuries before refrigerators, the earliest sauces and seasonings were used to mask the "off" tastes and smells of food that had begun to spoil. This continues to be true in parts of the world where people don't have home refrigeration units (which, interestingly enough, includes most people alive on the planet today).

The bacteria we're concerned with from a food safety standpoint are the so-called "pathogens" that cause food poisoning. And these pathogens, like salmonella or E. coli, don't produce any smells, off-tastes or changes in the food's appearance — a slimy surface, for instance, or some sort of discoloration. So how do we control these nasties? One way would be to starve them out. As noted above, bacteria need food to survive. Get rid of the food, and your bacteria problem disappears. Unfortunately, though, without food, the field of culinary arts has very little to offer.

So we'll assume that food is part of the equation. Bacteria still have several other, quite specific, requirements, each of which can be controlled to some extent. Armed with this knowledge, we can effectively minimize the chances of food-borne illness. The factors we need to keep in mind include: TemperatureTimeMoisturepH Level (Acidity)Read Part 2 of the article >>

Poultry Brine Recipe

Brining chicken, turkey and other poultry is a great way to add flavor and moisture to the meat before cooking it. This easy brine recipe can be used for brining a whole turkey breast, a whole chicken, even a whole turkey.

In its simplest form, brine is a solution of salt in water. But generally for brining chicken, turkey and other poultry, we add sugar and also a few simple spices.

When you add your poultry to the brine solution, the liquid should be icy. Room temperature brine can be a food safety hazard.

Combine the water, salt, sugar, peppercorns and allspice in a large stockpot. Stir to dissolve the salt and sugar.
Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Allow the brine to cool completely.
Add the ice, and then immerse the turkey breast or whatever item you are brining. Weight it down if necessary.
Transfer to a refrigerator for eight hours or overnight.
When you're ready to roast, remove the turkey breast and rinse it thoroughly. YOu can pour out the brine solution at this point.Makes 1? gallons (after adding the ice) of brine.

Ranch Dressing Recipe

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How to Make Perfect Bacon

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Pressure Cooker Soaking Beans

Beans should be soaked in cold water for at least eight hours so that they'll cook faster, more evenly, and also to minimize the unpleasant effects that have earned them their "musical fruit" reputation.

If you're short on time, you can use your pressure cooker to "quick soak" beans in a matter of minutes. To quick soak beans in a pressure cooker, rinse and sort beans, and add them to the pressure cooker with 4 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt for each cup of beans. Cover the pressure cooker and lock the lid in place, and bring to high pressure over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain pressure and cook for 2 minutes. Release pressure by the cold water method: carrying the pressure cooker to the sink and running cold water over the lid (but not the valve). Drain the beans, and they're ready to use in your recipe.

Bread Knife

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Caramelization

Definition: Caramelization is a culinary phenomenon that occurs when carbohydrates like sugar are heated to temperatures of 300°F or higher, causing them to turn brown.

Caramelization is related to the Maillard reaction, where proteins in meat turn brown when heated.

Caramelization is the principle that makes toast look toasty and turns pale white potatoes into crispy, golden-brown French fries.

See Also: How to Caramelize Onions