▎ WuXi AppTec content team editor
Looking forward to it, looking forward to it, the May Day holiday is coming, and the footsteps of early summer are approaching.
The grass grew lush and lush, no longer than the ankles, and in the garden and in the fields, there were large patches full of them.
I believe that at this moment, the DNA of many urban men and women has been stirring, thinking about it, can't wait, want to call friends and companions, sit on the grass, lie down... The wind is gentle and the grass is soft.
Of course, the most important thing is to set up a tent to camp, engage in some of the most popular picnic barbecues, and then send a circle of friends, showing elegant and grounded French pastoral feelings (even if you can't go outdoors for the time being, you can pretend to take a vacation in your own courtyard, rooftop, and terrace).
Image credit: wikiart.org, Licence: Public Domain
However, cough cough... Today we are going to talk about what to bring with you for outdoor cooking to ensure "clean and hygienic" to the greatest extent?
Before going out: how to pack food and how to keep warm?
If you want to go to an outdoor barbecue, a lot of fresh food is taken from the refrigerator or freezer at home and put in the car to take with you.
In this process, how to keep food fresh, you need a little technical content.
Image credit: 123RF
Therefore, the first essential item I talked about today is the cold box.
Prepare refrigerated boxes: Food that needs to be refrigerated or frozen must be put into a refrigeration box with ice cubes or ice packs (it is better to have a car Xiaoice box), and the storage conditions must be ≤4 ° C to avoid the growth of bacteria. Livestock meat and seafood are best packaged in a frozen state to extend the cold retention time.
Different foods are divided into open: take a cold box for drinks, and the other cold box contains fresh food that is easy to spoil. In this way, every time you want to take a drink, just open the beverage box, so as to avoid the perishable food is also exposed to the outdoor air and heat oxidation.
Avoid cross-contamination: Fresh meat and aquatic products must be packaged to avoid the juices flowing out of them, contaminating other cooked foods or foods that can be eaten directly (such as fruits and vegetables). If possible, it is best to separate them into different refrigeration boxes.
Wash and pack the fruits and vegetables: Before putting fresh vegetables and fruits into the incubator, rinse them with running tap water (including if you can't eat them with skins, you should also wash them). Fruits and vegetables with a firmer skin (such as melons) can be scrubbed while flushing or gently scrubbed with a clean fruit and vegetable brush. After washing, dry with clean wipes or paper towels. Note that fruits and vegetables that are packaged when they are bought do not need to be washed if they are marked "ready to eat", "washed" or "triple washed", such as salad vegetables.
Try to open the box as little as possible: After arriving at the picnic place, the fewer times the cold box is opened, the better, take enough at a time, and cover the lid when not in use, so as to extend the cold retention time.
Before a picnic: Hands and utensils should be as clean
As with eating anywhere else, remember to wash your hands before a picnic. But what if there is no washroom outdoors and it is inconvenient to wash your hands?
This brings us to our second and third essential items —
You can bring a kettle and soap/hand sanitizer and pour water out of the jug to wash your hands, or you can bring disinfectant wipes or hand sanitizer to scrub directly.
Image credit: wikiart.org, Licence: Public Domain
All the cutlery should also be clean, don't get dirty (if you think it is inconvenient to wash the dishes, you can replace it with environmentally friendly and lightweight disposable tableware).
Also, before opening the canned food, remember to wipe the lid clean.
When eating a picnic: this is not easy to eat diarrhea
1. Essential tips for barbecue picnic
Friends who like to barbecue or cook outdoor Barbie Q and want to avoid food spoiling or contamination, remember to pay attention to these details:
Marinate food safely: Foods that need to be pickled are best marinated in the refrigerator in advance, and never start marinating on kitchen countertops or outdoors. In addition, if you want to put some marinade as a sauce on the cooked food, it is best to leave some marinades in advance when preparing, and then take the rest to marinate other raw meats. Used marinades should not be reused (if necessary, they should be boiled before use).
Plates and bowls should not be reused: If plates and bowls that have previously contained fresh meat are reused, bacteria in raw food juices can contaminate cooked food. If you must repeat it, it is best to wash it with hot soapy water or bactericidal detergent first. Of course, it is best to prepare clean utensils in advance next to the grill, which are specially used for baked food.
Check the foreign body of impurities in the food: for example, the grill has been washed with a bristle brush and a wire brush before, and when grilling meat, it is necessary to carefully check to see if there are bristles and wire mixed into the food.
Semi-cooked food must be cooked immediately: for example, grilling in the terrace and gazebo at home, in this case, you can quickly take the half-cooked food in the kitchen to the grill to bake, to ensure hygiene and safety (if you can't do it, it is not recommended to bring semi-cooked food outdoors).
All foods that cannot be eaten raw must be cooked thoroughly: strictly speaking, just looking at the appearance and texture, it is not possible to judge whether the food is thoroughly cooked. Here's a fourth must-have – it's best to have a food thermometer. These foods can only be heated to the lowest internal safety temperature (see "List of Internal Safety Temperatures of Common Foods" at the end of the article) to ensure that harmful bacteria are completely killed.
Food that has been cooked should pay attention to keep warm: for example, before the food that has been baked has been served, it can be placed on the side of the grill and far away from the charcoal fire, so that it can be kept warm and not too old.
Image credit: 123RF
2. Safe temperature for all kinds of foods
First of all, to tell you a concept, 4 °C -60 °C belongs to the "danger zone".
Food for a picnic, whether hot or cold, cannot be left in the "danger zone" for more than 2 hours. If the outdoor temperature is higher than 32°C, it is dangerous for more than 1 hour.
Because at such temperatures, bacteria in food can multiply rapidly, causing gastrointestinal infections, which can lead to foodborne diseases.
So, remember this big premise: hot food needs to be kept warm, and cold food needs to be refrigerated.
(1) Cold vegetables, cold food and other foods that need to be refrigerated and are easy to deteriorate and rot
Before eating or cooking, be sure to put it in a refrigerated box at 4°C or below.
After serving the table, do not leave it at room temperature above 4 ° C for more than 2 hours. If the outdoor temperature is above 32 ° C, it cannot be eaten for more than 1 hour and must be thrown away.
Individual cold dishes or cold foods (such as chicken salads, desserts, etc.) can be placed directly on ice cubes, or they can be filled in a shallow bowl and kept cold in a pot or basin filled with ice. When the ice melts, you need to fill the water and make up the new ice cubes.
(2) Hot dishes and other foods that need to be kept warm
Hot dishes should be kept warm at a temperature of ≥ 60 ° C.
When it is not served on the table after making it, first put the hot dishes into the insulated container (such as ceramics and plastics are more insulated than stainless steel) and wrap them tightly.
Like cold dishes, hot dishes should not be left at room temperature for more than 2 hours (when the temperature exceeds 32 ° C, not more than 1 hour). If it takes longer than this, it is better to dump it for safety reasons.
Image credit: wikiart.org, Licence: Public Domain
As mentioned earlier, the food thermometer, is there a temperature standard for cooking food?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides a "List of Internal Safety Temperatures of Common Foods", which is translated and compiled by The Health Press and shared with you.