Safe and Innovative Grilling

It's July 4th, summer is officially here and what better way to celebrate than with some safe and innovative grilling tips.

Outdoor bbqs can often present food safety issues, from cooking meat to the right temperature to keeping your food fresh, there are lots of ways unsafe foods can dampen the party.  Here's how to make sure your bbqs are the most delicious and safest they can be... 

When it comes to food safety,  cooking meat to the correct temperature is critical! There are several different tools that can help you with this, one of the latest and most innovative is the iGrill2.

This single probe, wireless Bluetooth Smart thermometer tells your smartphone when your food is ready. The thermometer connects to your phone through an app, and will give you the real time temperature of your meat. You can select from dozens of temperature alarms and then you'll get an alert when your food has reached the desired temperature.  And if you want to upgrade your grilling skills, the app also comes with recipes and tips and a community globe that lets you see what grillers worldwide are doing! Just one of the neat ways innovation is helping us bbq. 

But keeping foods fresh while headed into the great outdoors can be tough, so wherever possible  why not save yourself the trouble and look for products where innovative packaging does the work for you? AND you can add a different twist to the typical bbq fare. Take for example, Pacific Foods, they have both Hummus and Salsa con Queso, a great addition to any picnic or bbq and the individual packaged cartons keep food fresh until ready to serve.  

Staying hydrated is key for the grill chef and the guests. More of us now are looking for beverages that are both refreshing and not full of bubbles and added sugars or artificial sweeteners. This season how about coconut water? Or iced coffee?  

Both Zico Pure Coconut Water and Starbucks Iced Coffee come in sizes perfect for sharing that are compact, easy to travel with and most importantly seal up taste and freshness.And for those doing the grilling, here's a few safety tips from Dr. BBQ.    

Tip #1 Leave the BBQ sauce in the kitchen until the food is almost done. It's a glaze, not the seasoning.

Tip #2  Never put the cooked food back on the plate that held the raw food. I'll discuss the cross contamination of raw/cooked food.

Tip #3 If your fire is too hot and the food is burning take it off the grill, get the fire calmed down and then return it to the grill.

Tip #4 Know when the food is finished, then take it off and eat it. I will discuss the use of the Thermapen here and how to use it to know when the food is properly done.

Happy 4th of July & Happy Grilling!