Food Safety Part 2

Bring your home kitchen up to code

If you've never worked in a restaurant, you may not know what it's like when the health inspector comes to call. If a restaurant is doing everything right, it's no big deal. If the restaurant is mismanaged and the staff isn't playing by the rules, it can mean serious points against the establishment and, in severe cases, a shut-down until things are corrected.

So how would your home kitchen do if the county health inspector dropped in? Don't worry, this isn't ever going to happen as they restrict their visits to public restaurants, not home kitchens. Nonetheless, it might be good to know you have your kitchen up to safe health standards. But first you need to know what those are. Here's a list of 10 things that will bring your kitchen around to passing muster and ensure you're running a safe and tight ship.

Keeping it cool: The Freezer

When you buy a freezer, often the manufacturer has a dial that you turn, setting it to 1, 2,3,4,5 or whatever to set the temperature to…? Well that won't tell you what's really going on temp wise. We learned in grade school that freezing was anything 32 degrees or below. But - there is freezing and there is deep freezing. Freezing is fine for short term storage, but if you plan to store things long term, several months or longer, you'll want to take your ice box down to -10 degrees.

Start by purchasing two cold temp dial thermometers for your freezer and refrigerator. Place one in the freezer and check it after 20 minutes to see what registers. Then start tweaking that numbered dial until you get the results you're looking for.

In restaurants these dial thermometers are required items in the cooling units. You'll find them in most Cash & Carry type stores, or online for just a few bucks. There is a hidden cost savings to them. Imagine the electricity in your neighborhood goes out for several days. When it kicks back in, open the freezer and see what the temp is. If it's over 32, you need to start using up the food, or toss it. But if it's under 32 you know it's safe to continue to hold and eat. So you can save yourself some money, or save yourself a tummy ache later.

The well-read former executive chef of Ray's Boathouse, Charles Ramseyer, reminds us that it takes up to 24 hours for a piece of food to fully freeze in most cooling units.

Keeping it cool: The Refrigerator

It's important to know at what temperature bacteria begins to grow in food. The lucky number is 42 degrees. Anything higher than that can put you on the road to food poisoning. In restaurants inspectors will take a few points off for food held between 42-45 degrees. Anything held above 45 is considered a severe violation because the bacteria will grow much faster.

Place that second dial thermometer into the fridge and check back in a bit to see what temps you're seeing. Again, move the innocuous temperature dial until the proper temp is registered. I personally like to hold my refrigerated food at 34 degrees, because it holds a lot longer and again, in the event of a power outage I've got a little flexibility.

Getting things heated up

One of the most important tools in my kitchen is an instant read digital thermometer. Again, a required item in most commercial kitchens by many counties, you'll be glad you made the investment as well. For the record, I'm not talking about the push in type, but rather the hand-held gun type with the laser pointer.

You know those recipes that say heat a medium skillet to medium. What does that mean? In the real world of cooking the standard for medium is 350 degrees. Now how would you know your skillet is at 350 degrees? I start by placing a splash of water in the skillet. When the water evaporates that's when I know it's time to grab the gun, point and pull the trigger. When I see 350 arrive on the meter, I know it's time to place the food into the skillet and go to work.

Recently, while researching cooking eggs, I learned that to make a smooth-as-silk fried egg, without all the bubbles, you're better off having the fry pan at 325 degrees. Again the gun is really handy for knowing when it's time to drop the egg in.

Larger cuts of meat do better starting off at 375-425 degrees which allows a nice sear on the outside so the juices stay in while cooking.

Hot on the plate

You know all that jazz you see on menus about raw and undercooked meats not being safe? Well, it's all true. Raw meats and seafood start growing bacteria as soon as that holding temp goes above 42. So if you're having dinner guests over for capriccio or sushi, prep it while it's cold, then place it back in the fridge until the moment arrives to serve it.

As for cooked meats, you can use the push-in style digital thermometer, or simply point your gun before you pull the meat from the oven, stovetop or grill. Sweet!

160 is the number I'm looking for before I pull the meat from the cooking surface. I can also aim my gun at an egg and know it's done right before I pull it (you don't stab a push-in style thermometer into an egg yolk – right?).

However, as Tom Douglas points out in his Seattle Kitchen cookbook, if you're doing a large piece of meat, such as a roast, you can pull it at 150 knowing it will continue to cook for several minutes after removing it from the cooking source.

Food location

Because commercial kitchens have an array of shelving throughout, the tendency sometimes is for a food worker to place raw meats and seafood above the prep surface. Then there's an earthquake, or a large truck rolls by, the bowl of raw chicken falls into the spinach below, bacteria starts its growth cycle, a salad is served and a patron throws up 8 hours later. In most home kitchens there is typically only one level of food holding surface, but it's important to point out nonetheless, don't let raw proteins mingle with other foods.

Wash those hands

So you're busy working up a fine dinner. No doubt in the beginning you're doing lots of prep before bringing all the ingredients together. Wash those hands often. If you're working with any raw meats or seafood, you must wash those hands before handling any other foods or touching any surfaces. Keep a container or bar of soap at the sink and suds up often. Of course this means your hands are going to be raw by the time you serve, so a nice squirt of hand lotion is your reward for being so clean.

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning

Speaking of keeping things clean, don't let your work surfaces get too grimy. Keep a rag or sponge nearby, constantly wiping down surfaces as you go and rinsing out the cleaning wipe often with hot water.

Commercial kitchens in most counties are required to keep a solution of water and bleach handy to keep their cleaning rags disinfected. ½ teaspoon to one quart of water is the standard. Less than that is not effective at disinfecting. More than that and you can damage surface textures.

Get a Food Server Card

You may never work in a restaurant, but it's educational to go online and do the course and testing to get a food server card. Then you'll have something nice to hand on the wall that let's others know how much you care about proper food handling – even at home.

Ants, flies, rats and bugs

If found in a commercial kitchen, you lose a lot of points. Keep them out of yours as well. For ants, the secret is you have to kill the queen and the best way we know how to do that is with a Dupont product called Adviom which you can use away from where pets go, usually under the sink, or in a cabinet where the source is found.

For flies, especially those pesky fruit flies, open up a strip of fly paper and place it our your mobile area.

Rats and bugs needs traps too.

The King County Health website is full of great information so at the very least spend a little time there exploring.

Happy, healthy cooking to you.

Tom Mehren/March 2014