5 Important Summer Grilling Safety Tips

 

Summer is finally here and many people are anxiously ready for planning to cook outdoors. However, while grilling and hosting barbecue parties can be a lot of fun, it’s important to make sure you follow a few safety guidelines to ensure that you and your guests have the best possible experience. The worst thing that could happen during your picnic would be if someone needed to go to the emergency room or the fire department has to be called!

Here are 5 very important summer grilling tips to follow to ensure the safety of you and your guests:

1. Grill From a Distance: Grilling too close to houses, decks, fences, bushes, or trees can greatly increase your risk of a fire while cooking outside. A minimum safe distance should be 5 feet, with 10 feet or more recommended. When you are making foods such as hamburgers or steaks that can drip grease and fat it can cause many flames to shoot up from the grill. You will also want to make sure there are no nearby flammable objects or materials, such as extra propane tanks or aerosol cans. You should never grill indoors or in a garage or covered porch area as this can also be a fire risk. The only things that should be nearby are your cooking necessities and a fire extinguisher!

2. Keep Kids and Pets Safe: A hot grill can be very dangerous to children and animals, especially since they may not realize that it can potentially burn them. Keep kids and pets as far away from the grill as possible and have another adult keep them occupied during cooking to make sure they don’t accidentally bump into the grill.

3. Protect Your Body: It is very easy for grease to splatter when cooking, and anytime you are working near a hot surface you will want to make sure that you take precautions to minimize your risk for burns. Using special matches or lighters for your grill, long handled tongs, and heat resistant oven mitts will all help your skin stay safe while barbecuing outside. Make sure your clothes are not too loose also – hanging sleeves or a baggy shirt could easily catch on fire inadvertently.

4. Never Leave the Grill Unattended: It only takes a minute away from your grilling station for something to go terribly wrong. Never when cooking outdoors leave the area. Make sure before you start that you have everything you need including the food, dishes, utensils, seasonings, and maybe even a drink for yourself while you are working.

5. Follow the Manufacturer Recommendations: Different models will have different features and specifications. Be sure that you completely understand the user manual and directions and follow any other additional safety information that comes with your equipment. You should also make sure that you perform regular cleaning and maintenance. Inspect the parts and pieces before use for leaks if using gas or propane and if necessary call a licensed person to repair.

Following these simple safety tips will help prevent injury to you, your guests, or your property. Taking just a few minutes to do these things can reduce your risk and make sure that your barbecue party is a safe and enjoyable one!

Categories: cooking, follow, grill, grilling, Safety, safety tips, summer grilling

How to Use Everyday Foods to Make a Perfect Barbeque

Summer is on its way, and with it, the opportunity to have a more varied and interesting diet. With skimpy summer clothing making its way towards the front of your wardrobe, you’ll likely want to focus a bit more on your nutrition to help shed some winter pounds, and just generally look after your wellness and wellbeing.

 

One of the best things about summer is having an impromptu barbeque. When you’re having an impromptu grilling session, the ingredients is already likely to be in your kitchen. Your meal can be as simple as you like, and can actually make the best kind of meal. Trying to put together too many flavours can lead to an overload and detract from the natural flavour of the meat. You can do a bit of experimenting to make your own sauces, marinades and rubs, combining simple pantry items to make flavours of your own personal preference.

 

Salt is one of the most basic ingredients, but can be great for rubbing into meat, or for sprinkling on top of cooked steaks. Other seasonings and spices can be used too. Paprika, onion powder, granulated garlic and cracked black pepper can make a great rub, when all combined together.

 

To make a marinade, you probably want to start with a vinegar base. White wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar are the two best vinegars for this purpose, and you can try injecting them directly into the meat to tenderise it. You can also add oil to help tenderise the meat, and mild oils such as canola oil are best for this.

 

Dark brown sugar is another pantry staple that can be great in a sauce or a rub. Molasses is also great for this. To add a bit of tang, stir in a little mustard to the mix. You can also use mayo to rub the meat with before adding another mixture. If you’re going with a more oriental flavour, peanut butter can be part of a great sauce or marinade.

Categories: barbeque, BBQ, grill, meat, nbsp, pantry, Summer, Vinegar