Before you start cooking:
- Defrost meat and poultry completely before grilling. This helps meat cook more evenly.
- Defrost meat in the refrigerator, on a pan with a raised edge to catch drips. This is the slowest but safest way to defrost. Sealed packages can also be thawed in cold water (replace the water often) or in the microwave.
- Cook meat immediately after thawing.
- Always marinate food in the refrigerator.
- Make up extra, separate marinade to use later as a sauce on the cooked food. Never put marinade from raw meat on cooked meats.
When cooking:
- Keep raw meats away from food that is ready to eat. Use a separate cutting board for raw and cooked foods.
- Use clean utensils to remove foods from the grill.
- Put cooked foods on a clean plate; never re-use the plate that the raw meat was on.
- Use a clean food thermometer to check the temperature of foods.
- Take care to keep the thermometer inside the thickest part of the meat you’re testing—otherwise, you might just be measuring the temperature of the coals!
- Cook ground beef to at least 160º and cook poultry to 165º to kill harmful bacteria.
After cooking:
- Put leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer as soon as you are done eating or within 2 hours.
- Dish up large leftovers into several small, shallow dishes so they cool quicker.
- Throw away any food left out for more than 2 hours (or after 1 hour if the air temperature is over 90º).
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