Continue reading »]]> Butchers Block Maintenance Whether you use a butchers block to chop sirloin, pound chicken, or use as a cheese and grape platter at your next party, you will want a butcher’s block that is both functional and appealing to the eye. To capture both of these ingredients, you will need to maintain your butchers block like any other asset you intend on keeping forever. Butchers blocks come in a variety of sizes and shapes and can be made from different types of wood.

One example of these beautiful boards is one made from Vermont deep purple and brown walnut wood with an end-grain pattern which comes alive with the mineral oil finish. The end-grain butcher’s block is the best kind to use because it’s more durable than regular butchers blocks. It has a much harder surface and can better withstand the cutting action of the blade. These boards provide a truly hardened cutting surface and are gentler to the knife’s cutting edge.

The solid walnut butcher block is a high quality adornment for those with special counter tops. It will bring out the best in your Peruvian marble, your Brazilian granite, your stainless steel, or even your Home Depot Formica. This butcher block is a beautiful kitchen accessory that is completely functional and a joy to cut on.

Seasoning the Butchers Block

Before using a new butcher’s block, it should be properly seasoned. This will aid in preventing your block from being stained, absorbing odors from food like fish or onions and having bacteria and germs grow in the wood. The block surface should be treated with oil that can be repeatedly applied to seal the wood. Never use vegetable or cooking oil to season or treat the surfaces of your block.

A block’s surface treated with these types of oils will become rancid over time.

When applying oil to the block surface for the initial seasoning, use a soft lint free cloth and apply the oil in the direction of the wood grain. The wood will absorb most of the oil. After each application, wait several hours and wipe off any excess oil prior to the next application. You should repeat this process several times.

Sanitizing / Maintaining The Butchers Block

Caution must be taken when using wooden butcher’s blocks to ensure a sanitized cutting surface is maintained. Whichever kind of board you use; all cutting boards should be cleaned and sanitized frequently. To prevent cross contamination, it is always a good idea to have and use separate butchers blocks for cutting your vegetables and meats. Wash the butcher block with a mild dish washing soap and hot water. Never use harsh cleaners or chemicals to clean your block. Use a clean sponge or dish towel for the scrubbing and then dry the block well with a soft cloth. Because wood is porous, you never want to submerge your butchers block in water. The block will soak up water causing it to crack after it dries.

To kill bacteria often left behind by raw meat, you can use bleach as a sanitizer to wash your block as follows: one tablespoon ( = 15 milliliters = 0.5 liquid ounce) of concentrated bleach per gallon of water at normal room temperature is considered to be the equivalent of 200 PPM. This is the standard for cleaning food preparation surfaces like butchers blocks. Cleaning equipment requires a higher concentration than utensil rinse or treatment of food preparation equipment. In addition to using vinegar and 3% hydrogen peroxide to disinfect bacteria and germs from your vegetables prior to consuming them, vinegar can also be applied and used in the same manner with your butcher’s blocks.

The block can be wiped down with full-strength white vinegar and then repeated with the hydrogen peroxide after each use. The acetic acid in the vinegar is a good disinfectant and the hydrogen peroxide used afterward is used to kill any bacteria. To kill the germs and bacteria on your block, use a paper towel and wipe down with vinegar, then use another paper towel to wipe down with the hydrogen peroxide.

Your butchers block should be kept dry when not being used. Keep liquids of any type from sitting on the blocks surface for long periods of time (this includes when cutting meat that contains a lot of liquid or blood). If your block is not supported by 4 non marring feet, be careful the block isn’t collecting moisture underneath as it lies on the counter. If so, you will also want to stand your block up on one side when not being used.

Use a good steel scraper or spatula several times while cutting wet meat to remove the liquid from the cutting surface. This will help in keeping the cutting surface clean and sanitary. Never use a steel brush on the cutting surface of your block. It will scratch the surface and damage the finish.

Maintain the blocks surface with mineral oil on a weekly basis, after each use or whenever you notice the wood drying. Coat the block with oil, let sit for five minutes then wipe away the remainder with a soft towel. Wait a day before using the butcher block. Wooden blocks should also be oiled or re-seasoning once a week to seal the grain against bacteria. An oil finish also helps to prevent the wood from cracking or pulling apart at the seams. It is best to keep a soft lint free cloth, which has been used before and already contains mineral oil, stored in a plastic bag for ease of use for this process.

To ensure cutting surface continuity, never continuously cut in the same place on the top surface of your butchers block. Make sure that you are cutting over the entire work surface so that it will wear evenly.

You can refinish your butchers block by sanding the surface with 220 grit or less abrasive sandpaper. This will remove any stains, valleys and knife damage caused during use. After the block has been sanded, you will have to re-season it as described above.

The butcher’s block that you use and properly maintain today can be enjoyed by future generations tomorrow.

Continue reading »]]> As you go camping, using good Food Safety is significant. Below are some Food Safety tips for you and your fellow campers so that you can enjoy the trip.

1. Plan Your Meals and Method of Cooking - Before you go on your camping trip plan the meals you would like to have and when. This will help you prepare the food for your trip. For instance, if you are planning on having steaks on your third night of camping, make sure the steaks are completely frozen before taking them in your cooler. You will also want to consider what method you will use to cook your meals. Remember, at time, the forest may be closed to campfires and charcoal grills so you will need to bring a propane stove or grill for cooking.

 
2. Keep Everything Clean – Remember to wash your hands before and after handling foods, especially raw meats.

Also, make sure all cooking utensils and pans are clean prior to use. When packing your cooler, double wrap your raw meats to contain their juices and keeping your other foods safe.

 
3. Keep Hot Foods Hot, Cold Foods Cold - It is important to keep all your food that should be refrigerated cold. It is recommended to have two coolers, one for drinks and one for all your food. This will eliminate opening the food cooler too frequently and melting the ice more quickly. Also, keep your coolers in the shade and place an old blanket around them for further insulation. Remember to serve hot foods promptly, and store leftovers in an ice filled cooler.

So, as you can see, if you practice these “Food Safety” tips your next camping trip will be both SAFE and enjoyable.

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Continue reading »]]> Many people are prone to get sick because of different illnesses that are caused with the wrong storage of food. It is therefore important to enhance food safety at all cost to avoid risks that might claim a life.

There are a number of food safety tips that are available in order to educate and help individuals know how take care of food. Handling of food is the first thing that should be done with a lot of care. There are those foods that are commonly associated with causing illnesses such as eggs and meats. However, these are not the only foods that cause healthcare risks, foods such as fresh vegetables and fruits are also not exempted if they are not handled with care.

Raw fish and meats should be kept away from other foods that will not be cook. This basically means that these meats should be well packaged and stored separately in the refrigerator. When they are being thawed, it is important to ensure that this is done either inside the fridge by reducing the temperature, under cold running water or using a microwave oven. It should never be done on top of a counter because this gives it a chance of attracting more bacteria.

Another Food safety tip is to ensure that all food products are thoroughly washed before being used. This should be done whether it looks clean or not because the bacteria that cause illness is usually not seen with naked eyes. Those that do not need to be peeled should be washed using plain running water and others can be scrubbed to remove all the dirt if necessary.

Utensils should be washed with warm soap water. This should also be done for cutting boards and counter surfaces immediately after using them. With this in mind, it is important to ensure that you do not overcook foods because this will kill all the nutrients the food has. The food should however be cooked appropriately to avoid leaving germs that hide in the places where heat does not reach as fast.

Continue reading »]]> Article by nicksmith

Smoking meats are the best way to cook meat with enjoying taste as well as nutritious value. The meat can be smoked by electric smoker, wood smoker, gas smoker, and charcoal smoker as per your choice as well as requirements.

Meat has always been the favorite of non vegetarians and grills perfect starters for people celebrating occasion, family gathering, and fun parties. Smoking meats are the best way to cook meat with enjoying taste as well as nutritious value. The meat can be smoked by electric smoker, wood smoker, gas smoker, and charcoal smoker as per your choice as well as requirements. The 7 tips for smoking meats preparation will help to cook delicious delicacies to enjoy for the entire family to relish a get – together.

7 Tips for Smoking Meat Preparation

• It is always best to take advice from the butcher while selection of the smoker as well as take information related to the time frame to smoke as well as grill. As it is always helpful to take information from the professional meat practitioners so ensure taking advice from butcher.

• The selection of wood will give it a unique taste as well as flavor for grill as well as smoked meat. The cooking chips decide the taste of the meat so the best wooden cooking chips are Apple, Alder, Cherry, Hickory, Maple, Oak and Pecan.

• For background creation of the barbecue smoker grill one must build its own fire mound on one side and place the food on the added side to ensure the fire finely burns the meat and the air does not distract the flame or smoke to burn it down. The main tip to remember is smoking meats involves cooking of food slowly and steadily giving the food a great flavor by going inside of the meat.

• One should always make sure to use brand new coal for grill or smoked meat. Also first try to completely burn down the coal and then use the heat, smoke, as well as warm to get a delicious meat smoked with spices.

• The fats of the meat should be left on the meat itself as it gives a good taste to the meat by melting and entering the meat.

• The heat of smoker should be not much high neither too low but should allow the meat to cook slowly as this helps to get the meat, flavors, fats, as well as spices cooked well.

• Remember there should not be fire flames rather the food should be cooked in smoke hence if flames spring up makes sure to spray down the flames using the water.

Continue reading »]]> Isn’t it nice to have a kitchen that is fully equipped with the necessary cooking equipments? Well, cooking will surely be a great pastime for all the individuals out there who managed to make their kitchen fully equipped with the latest and high technology machines for kitchen use.

Cooking food is believed to be an expertise that requires a lot of training, practice and mastery. If you want to cook great food or perhaps a great chef, you better learn and seek advice from the experts. Some people usually write their own recipes in diaries and turning them over to the future generations. Surely, food preparations differ from the how it is cooked. Some chefs have their different styles in how to cook a specific type of food. You really need not to follow what the food recipe says instead, you have to use your own imagination and be creative in making a sumptuous meal.

The kitchen wares that are available in the market are considered to be a cook’s partner.

There are some who really need to have even the smallest details or the smallest equipment in their kitchen that way they can cook different food preparations. Being prepared with the necessary equipments will not only make great food but it will also save you a lot of time and effort.

One important piece of kitchen equipment that is very useful especially during thanksgiving occasions is the digital meat thermometer. For some, this equipment may not be necessary at all but thinking about how it can be useful especially when we are cooking pot makes us to think twice and buy it instead.

Digital meat thermometer will let us know when the food is already cooked the way we want it to be either it’s medium, medium rare or well done. You wouldn’t want to eat your meat that is still raw on the inside or is undercook, right? Eating undercook meat will cause you food borne illnesses and thus making you to spend much on medicines and check-ups whereas if you purchase your own home digital meat thermometer, it will prevent you from eating any undercooked food.

Use of meat thermometer is considered as one of the easy, fast and safest way in measuring the temperature of a certain type of food. This tool has made a significant contribution to all the chefs in all parts of the world. We shouldn’t depend much on the microwave’s temperature setting when we are roasting meat since we do not really know if the inside part of the meat is already cooked.

We should be careful though when we buy digital thermometers because there are already different types of thermometers in the market. Reading the label many times will ensure us that we are purchasing the right tool.

If you wish to purchase your own digital meat thermometer, you can choose from the different types of meat thermometers that is available in the market. Choosing meat thermometer is now easy and you can already select from different types such as oven-proof types, instant read or digital types, pop up and microwave types.

So if you want to cook well done and delicious meat, a digital meat thermometer will guide you all throughout the cooking process. It is safe, fast and very accurate. Visit http://www.digital-meat-thermometer.org for more informaton on this kitchen tool.

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Continue reading »]]> Meat has always been the favorite of non vegetarians and grills perfect starters for people celebrating occasion, family gathering, and fun parties. Smoking meats are the best way to cook meat with enjoying taste as well as nutritious value. The meat can be smoked by electric smoker, wood smoker, gas smoker, and charcoal smoker as per your choice as well as requirements. The 7 tips for smoking meats preparation will help to cook delicious delicacies to enjoy for the entire family to relish a get – together.

7 Tips for Smoking Meat Preparation

• It is always best to take advice from the butcher while selection of the smoker as well as take information related to the time frame to smoke as well as grill. As it is always helpful to take information from the professional meat practitioners so ensure taking advice from butcher.

• The selection of wood will give it a unique taste as well as flavor for grill as well as smoked meat.

The cooking chips decide the taste of the meat so the best wooden cooking chips are Apple, Alder, Cherry, Hickory, Maple, Oak and Pecan.

• For background creation of the barbecue smoker grill one must build its own fire mound on one side and place the food on the added side to ensure the fire finely burns the meat and the air does not distract the flame or smoke to burn it down. The main tip to remember is smoking meats involves cooking of food slowly and steadily giving the food a great flavor by going inside of the meat.

• One should always make sure to use brand new coal for grill or smoked meat.

Also first try to completely burn down the coal and then use the heat, smoke, as well as warm to get a delicious meat smoked with spices.

• The fats of the meat should be left on the meat itself as it gives a good taste to the meat by melting and entering the meat.

• The heat of smoker should be not much high neither too low but should allow the meat to cook slowly as this helps to get the meat, flavors, fats, as well as spices cooked well.

• Remember there should not be fire flames rather the food should be cooked in smoke hence if flames spring up makes sure to spray down the flames using the water.

Continue reading »]]> Chopping meat just isn’t that simple to do. It includes a number of onerous work, and requires the appropriate tools. The first and most blatant instrument could be the knife and the cutting board, and probably the most underrated is the butcher block, this is necessary as a result of the meat is not going to reduce correctly if the base is flimsy or not sturdy and it might even break. Butchers, who are, for all the correct reasons, experts in this field, discovered an answer for this problem a very long time in the past, and it has confirmed itself to be the most suitable choice; the butcher block.

In quite simple phrases, it’s a heavy-obligation board of wood that’s used to chop meat on. There are two kinds of blocks; the tip grain butcher block, which is made by gluing pieces of wood with the wood fiber perpendicular to the floor of the block, these are generally around four inches thick as most well-liked by butchers, after which you’ve the sting grain, which is made by gluing wooden with the fibers parallel to the surface. Each of these blocks are used for the same cause; to help hold a strong base whereas cutting meat.

Butchers will often purchase a block in the beginning of their career after which smoothen the floor as and when needed as it goes by quite a lot of wear and tear. They are the only option for butchers because not only are they strong and very arduous to wreck but also they are sturdy, which is very important for a chopping board. If the board isn’t strong and sturdy, it might mean danger for the butcher as plenty of accidents can take place. Hygiene can also be one more reason why a butcher block is used. Meat is prone to getting spoilt in several ways. The block does a tremendous job in protecting the workstation clear as in comparison with another material.

They don’t seem to be solely meant for business butcher retailers but can be used at house in the type of counters, tabletops or even common butcher blocks. Home use butcher blocks normally are solely about 2 inches thick but are nonetheless as sturdy as business butcher blocks. Sturdiness, power and hygiene mixed with the easiness to form and customize this item into any kitchen space are only some of the explanations as to why the age old butcher block is the higher choice when compare to each other counter available.