Cooking with a food thermometer

Readers,

Recently i've been experimenting with a food thermometer when i BBQ food. It makes cooking a breeze and takes the usual guessing out of judging when the food is hot through.

This is especially useful when cooking chicken, pork and of course sausages.

We all have that concern that snags are never really cooked through unless they are charred on the outside to oblivion and cut in half and cooked excessively.



With a thermometer, you simply stick it in the centre of the meat, and take a reading.

N.B. Its best to move the piece of meat away from the burner or flame to ensure you get an accurate temperature reading.

Best of all, these thermometers are usually pretty cheap (under AU $20). You can also find them on Ebay for about AU $12.

The following article has some additional useful tips on using a thermometer.

http://www.kraft.com.au/CookingSchool/BBQBasics/FoodThermometers.htm

Cooking the perfect steak

We had a family BBQ over the weekend. Dad recently got one of those new BBQ's, all stainless steel, with self-igniting burners etc.

Its an absolute joy to cook on. We've been experimenting in recent weeks and BBQ's with the cooking of perfect steak. Now Dad, is a recent convert to medium-rare steak, he used to be pretty strict on the old well-done slab of meat.

We've actually been using a few tools to help us achieve a perfect (or near perfect) result.

• A small digitial timer
• A meat thermometer

The meat thermometer, we use to check the temperature of the inside of the meat - its got a special temperature range for steak/beef.

The digital thermometer is used to keep track of our time between turns.

OK, so we use the grill part of the BBQ, turning 2 burners on. Close the hood of the BBQ, and turn the burners to full-heat. Leave the hood closed for approx 5-7 minutes, the temperature inside the hood as well as thr grill rungs should be nice and hot by this time.

Now, open the hood and reduce the heat to a medium setting, now place the steaks carefully on the grill, close the hood.

Set your timer for 2 minutes. When the 2 minutes is up, open the hood and carefully turn the steaks, close the hood and set the timer for a second 2 minutes.

Depending on the thickness and cut of your steak, this should result in a perfect medium-rare cook. If you prefer a little more well-done, as some female family members do, we left these steaks on for an additional 1-2 minutes. We ttested this with rump steak, T-bone, sirloin about 1-2cm's thick.

Its important, to keep turning to a minimum, unless you want a really well-done steak without the juicyness of medium, medium-rare, medium-well.

Make Crumbed Chicken (Schnitzel)

OK, this isn't really a BBQ recipe, but it is close to my heart. As i've said before, i love plain food and stuff thats easy to cook.

You won't get any easier than this, and its relatively healthy, with the exception of a little oil.

What you'll need:

• 1-2KG of chicken breast.
• 6-8 Eggs
• 100-200 gms flour
• 1-2 Packs of Breadcrumbs (I use Krummies, but any quality brand will do - it will make a difference as to whether the crumbs coat to the chicken well)
• Frying Pan
• Oil (Canola usually works best, but you can use Olive/Vegetable depending on preference)
  

In Australia, usually 1 tray (2 breast pieces) will serve 2 people. If you have a larger group, get an extra KG (approx 2.2pounds)

You can use either organic or 'normal' chicken...to be honest i can't tell the difference, though sometimes the organic stuff almost tastes too succulent - almost unnaturally so.

Remove chicken from package, use gloves if you hate touching raw chicken. Trim any white/fat stringy bits from the chicken breast. IF THERE IS FAT, Use the knife to slide along the fat, and hold one end at the same time - this will ensure you don't destroy the breast in the process.


Once any fat is removed, place your hand flat on top of the piece of chicken, lie the piece on its side, and take your knife and cut lenghways in half down the chicken breast. Also referred to as butterfly.
You can often do this 2-3 times, depending on the thickness/cut of the chicken. This will effectively leave you with several thin fillets of chicken.

Take your frying pan and fill with about 1.5cm of cooking oil. Heat on a medium heat for about 5-10 minutes. I usually test a small piece after that point, just to check whether its hot enough. If the oil is not hot enough, the chicken will usually soak up more oil and not taste as good.

Cook for about 5 minutes each side, turn twice, and give another 5 minutes till golden brown.

Now for the important part. Its crucial that you drain the chicken well when you take out of the pan. Let the excess oil drip off while holding the chicken piece over the pan, place chicken pieces on a tray with 2-3 layers of paper towelling. This is important, because it will absorb and additional oil. The chicken will taste fresh and healthy, and almost like it hasn't been shallow fried if you do this properly.

I often press paper towel on the top of the chicken piece just to be extra absorbent. Trust me, it helps.

There you go, healthy, crumbed and shallow fryed chicken breast (schnitzel). Serve with steamed vegetables and salad.

How to cook Shrimp on the BBQ

How do you BBQ Shrimp (Prawns)?

Well, for starters we call them prawns in Australia, but the title is just for the benefit of my American and overseas readers. There is always more than one way to skin a cat (just an expression, we don't skin cats here...well i don't), so i'll give you a couple of options here.

First of all, its important choose your prawns (shrimp) carefully. For the purpose of barbequeing (and really any method i guess), its best to use fresh Green Prawns (uncooked of course).

You should try and find a green prawn that is caught or produced locally. There have been recent cases (2006) where imported green prawns carry bacteria.
(http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/cps/rde/dpi/hs.xsl/30_4979_ENA_HTML.htm).

When you choose your prawns, make sure they are firm, moist and look fresh. You can usually tell, if the fish shop/market has simply sprayed them with water to make them appear wet/fresh.

Only choose prawns with the heads and shell still intact, they maintain their freshness (and therefore taste) much longer. Also, the prawn shell will add to the flavour during cooking.

N.B. I would perhaps shell the prawns and remove the heads if i was cooking in the pan - you will fit a lot more prawns in the pan, and you have a little bit more flexibility if you are doing a dish/stew/broth etc

OK, i'll usually coat the prawns with a combination of oil (olive) and lemon juice (squeeze fresh lemons). Heat the BBQ to a medium heat, and put the prawns straight on. Note - You can actually put them on skewers like a kebab, even with the shell on. Insert the skewer and poke through head to tail (bottom). This option will probably make it easier to turn, and they will cook more evenly.

Cook prawns on a medium heat for about 6-8 minutes, i usually turn every 2 minutes. This will depend on how hot your BBQ is.

You'll be able to tell when the prawns are cooked because the meat inside the head will firm up and turn white, as opposed to clear when it was raw.

Serve with lemon wedges and your favourite seafood or tartar sauce on the side.