Tuesday 21 June 2011

Safety When Working With Chicken

When looking for an economical, low-cholesterol and protein rich meat, many people turn to chicken. This is because chicken is easy to cook and costs less than other types of meats. However, when preparing chicken safety should always be a first priority, as many digestive disorders can occur from poorly cooked or cleaned chicken. The following tips will help you prepare chicken in the safest way possible.
Remove chicken from the packaging as soon as possible, as this will avoid allowing the chicken to overheat or sweat. Place the chicken into ceramic or glass dish, or wrap it in aluminum foil, and then place it in the refrigerator for storage until you're going to cook it. This will prevent food contamination off the raw chicken onto other cooked foods in the refrigerator.

If you are preparing frozen chicken, then you should defrost it thoroughly and naturally, by transferring from the freezer to the refrigerator. Although, immersing it in cold water or using the microwave defrost setting is also an acceptable method of defrosting the chicken. Be sure to discard any water or juices that are released when defrosting the chicken, and if juices splash onto the counter or microwave surfaces, they should be removed immediately with soapy water and paper towels instead of a damp dishcloth. This way any contaminated juices are thrown away immediately with the paper towel.

Determine if the chicken is fresh when you purchase or that the grocery store by checking for an odor. Fresh chicken needs to be odorless, firm and shiny.

Use a specific cutting board just for chicken so you can identify it in future uses. This way you prevent infecting other raw foods with chicken bacteria.

Roasting a chicken requires that you remove all parts from the interior cavity and cook thoroughly. Look for the juices to change from a pinkish color to clear. This clear color indicates a fully cooked chicken. If stuffing a chicken be sure to cook it at least 20 minutes longer than regular chicken.

Be sure to do a thorough cleanup after you prepare chicken, but always use paper towels and disinfectant to clean preparation surfaces. This way you do not contaminate dish cloths or sponges.

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