Cooking Safety – Hints and tips on how to keep you and your guests safe at your barbecue
Cooking safety around the barbecue is an important part of good housekeeping. When that time of year comes around again, when the weather is warm and the sun is high in the sky, it’s time to have a bit of fun and perhaps bring out the barbecue. This page is split into 3 sections: Alcohol consumption one of the worst things you can do when hosting a barbecue, or even worse if you’re on cooking duties, is to drink too much alcohol. As we know alcohol can affect our judgment and this could lead to accidents. Another thing to note is that if the barbecue is held on a hot day, then a combination of the heat from the sun along with the heat from the barbecue itself could result in you, as chef becoming dehydrated, this means any alcohol consumed will have a greater affect on your senses than normal. So why not wait until your cooking duties have finished before you indulge yourself. The final note of caution where alcohol is concerned is with your guests. Ensure they don’t become too drunk as they may stumble or trip into the barbecue; I’ve seen this happen at let me assure you it’s not a pretty site. Hair and clothing If you are on cheffing duties make sure the clothing you are wearing are not loose fitting, made from a flammable material or flowing, as there is a very good chance they could catch fire and cause you considerable damage. The same thing goes for hair. If your hair is long make sure it’s tied back, perhaps in a bun or something, this will stop you setting yourself on fire. Finding the right plot When you decide to have a barbecue you need to find the right place to put it, just to be on the safe-side. Below are some keep points to consider. Make sure you follow these good housekeeping measures and keep it safe. Flammable liquids Whatever you do, don’t use highly flammable liquids, such as petrol to help give your barbecue lighting a kick start as this could have serious repercussions. A cooking safety tip I recommend is to use fire lighters and other recommended products to start your barbecue. If you do this, you should keep everyone safe. The cooking safety tip above goes hand in hand with another key point, which is don’t let the barbecue flames get out of control. To put your mind at ease you should always keep a bucket of water near by, this will help in two ways. Firstly, if the flames do get dangerously out of control then you can extinguish them with the water. Secondly, the water, perhaps will stop you from panicking if the flames get out of control, the worse thing you can do is panic as this severely affects your judgment. Removing cinders When you have finished with you’re barbecue follow this good housekeeping measure and ensure that a good few hours have elapsed before discarding the embers, perhaps leave it overnight or even a couple of days before doing so. Hot cinders, if put in a rubbish bin could set your rubbish on fire, make sure they are cool. Where cooking safety is concerned, if you are cooking using a gas barbecue the following cooking safety points need to be considered in order to maintain your level of good housekeeping. Blockages Before you start up the gas barbecue make sure the pipes or tubes are not blocked with any debris, as this will stop the gas from getting through and cause it to build up. In order to ensure that this is the case, or not, use a pipe cleaner this will help remove any blockages.
Damaged tubes The second thing which should be undertaken before lighting your gas barbecue is to check that the tubes connecting the gas haven’t got any holes in them; these holes will cause gas to escape. Protect tubes When you finally light your barbecue ensure that the tubes aren’t exposed to too much heat as this could damage them and create serious hazards. Gas leaks An important consideration of cooking safety is when you light your barbecue check for leaks; leaking gas is a serious fire or explosion risk. Instructions Generally, before attempting to light your gas barbecue one of the main things you should do as part of any barbecue cooking safety and good housekeeping techniques is to familiarize yourself with the manufacturers manual. This will often provide you with helpful hints and tips, as well as supplying a troubleshooting section for any problems which may arise. The main concern in this cooking safety section is regarding food poisoning and its prevention, such as avoiding cross contamination. The way food is cooked, prepared and treated can either cause or prevent us and our guests from coming down with a dose of food poisoning. Below are some cooking safety and general good housekeeping points to take on board in order to prevent any nasty side affects from our barbecues. Thanks for checking out our OPH Good Housekeeping BBQ cooking safety page. Why not check out our food nutrition pages? or our recipes pages?
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