The most romantic of days isn’t one in which you’d like to give your paramour food poisoning (well, really you don’t want to do that on any day!). So to help you keep the romance alive and the food safe, we’ve collected our top tips for today’s post.
How not to poison your date on Valentine’s Day
You’ve invited your love over for a delicious and romantic meal, but you don’t want to leave them with food poisoning. Good on you! Read on to find how not to poison your date:
- We’ll start with something simple: Keep hot food hot and cold food cold. Avoid the temperature danger zone of between 5 °C and 60 °C.
- When shopping for oysters, one way to tell whether your seafood is genuinely fresh and ready to be bought is by smelling it. If you receive an unpleasant odour or strong fishy smell, it is too old to be purchased.
- If you’re cooking meat or poultry, remember to move it from the freezer to fridge in plenty of time to defrost it. Never defrost it on the bench.
- Wash your fruits and vegetables thoroughly before cooking or eating – this includes the strawberries you’re popping in the champagne.
- Use different chopping boards and utensils for raw meats and cooked/ready to eat foods to avoid contamination.
- Stack your fridge thoughtfully. Ready to eat foods on top, raw and uncooked foods at the bottom.
- Wash your hands thoroughly before preparing foods and after touching raw meat and food.
- Put leftovers away immediately into the fridge, don’t leave them on the table or bench to cool first. Dispose of any high-risk food left in the temperature danger zone (between 5 °C and 60 °C) for more than four hours.
- Make sure to cook stuffed meats, sausages, hamburgers (and other minced meats) and chicken all the way through, use a thermometer to make sure it’s fully cooked.
- Avoid high-risk foods like homemade mayonnaise and other raw egg accompaniments, unwashed fruit and vegetables, and anything left in the temperature danger zone for too long.
Simple, safe and tasty Valentine’s recipe inspiration
- Start your evening with delicious, if a little cliche, oysters. Stay safe with this baked variation which is sure to impress as they are served in their shells.
- Give your main meal a romantic touch by serving char-grilled quail with rose and pomegranate. This recipe can be tweaked to use chicken if you can’t get your hands on quail.Make sure you are BBQ-ing the quail well, no pink flesh should be visible.
- Finish the night in style with this impressive and surprisingly good for you chocolate avocado mousse. Serve with fresh raspberries for a passionate twist.
February 7, 2018