Holiday Mishaps: 22 Dangerous Cooking Techniques

LOS ANGELES - Nov. 19, 2024 - PRLog -- 1. Deep Frying (Especially a Turkey)
Every Thanksgiving there are many house fires caused by deep frying turkey, usually frozen ones. FEMA suggests using a specific Turkey deep fryer for your roast and thawing the bird before frying. It's also best to do this type of cooking outside while keeping the fryer at least 10 feet away from the home, on a stable and level surface and not below roof eaves.(1)

However, any type of deep frying is a dangerous technique unless the cook is careful. To avoid fires, don't fill the fryer with oil to the top, because after submerging whatever food you're frying, the oil will splatter and cause a grease fire.

2. Slow Cooking
Certain foods will not reach the high temperatures needed to be safe for ingesting. It's not just meat either. Kidney beans, for instance, need higher temperatures to kill off toxins. Always look up recipes from the most reputable cooking websites or cookbooks and follow directions.

For instance, thawing raw, frozen meat before slow cooking is most important. Otherwise, the meat will be cooked at unsafe temperatures and will become poisonous. Most slow cookers reach temperatures between 170° and 280° which are sometimes not enough to thaw and properly cook frozen vegetables either.

3. Braising
Braising is a great way to tenderize the toughest pieces of meat and even requires tougher cuts. However, much like a slow cooker, this cooking method requires cooking the meat at lower temperatures over a longer period of time. Once again, starting with frozen meat is a bad idea, especially if you're cooking for longer periods of time at temperatures around 250 degrees (this is sometimes too low for some ovens). Make sure the meat you're braising is thawed in a refrigerator, which may require taking it out of the freezer and leaving it in the fridge overnight.

4. Stewing
Once again, the whole process of stewing is reliant on cooking at lower temperatures for long periods of time. If the person doing the stewing is not heating at high-enough temperatures, they may spread bacteria growth and cause food poisoning.

5. Sous Vide Cooking
The trending sous vide process of cooking involves immersing food in plastic into boiling-hot water. Unfortunately, the plastic, BPA and other chemicals you don't want to ingest may leach into the food you're cooking...(continued)

For the full article on 22 dangerous cooking techniques, visit: https://smartfinancial.com/dangerous-cooking-techniques