Easy Steak Marinades
Using Steak Marinades Safely - Important Food Safety Advice
Before you start making delicious steak marinade recipes, it is important to bear a few food safety facts in mind. Hygiene is important with any kind of cooking, especially when using meat or poultry and there are a few food safety pointers you should know about before using easy steak marinades.
Marinades will add flavor and are able to tenderize your steak but the best steak marinade in the world cannot kill bacteria. The acid in a marinade can slow or stop bacterial growth but it cannot destroy the bacteria itself. This is why it is very important to take a few minutes and read the following safety tips before you start cooking:
Marinade Safety Tips
- In some of our steak marinade recipes, you will be using the marinade as a basting liquid or as a sauce to serve with the steak. Because the marinade will have been in contact with raw meat juices, it is vital to boil it for at least five minutes before using it to baste the cooking meat or serving it as a sauce. Food borne bacteria dies at 165 degrees F.
- When using a marinade to baste your steak, stop basting it five minutes before you finish cooking, so the raw meat juice traces in the marinade can cook thoroughly.
- Always marinate your steak in a covered container in the refrigerator to prevent contamination and prevent bacterial growth. Bacteria can quickly multiply on raw meat if it is warm.
- If you have marinade left over and you do not want to baste with it or use it as a sauce, throw it away. It is not safe to store marinade, which has been in contact with raw meat.
Steak Safety Tips
- Cattle has a much thicker skin than poultry, which is why chicken needs to be cooked all the way through but eating a rare steak is perfectly safe. However, just in case there are any bacteria on the outside of your steak, you should always sear steak all over to ensure is safety. This also helps to lock the juice in and improve the texture of the meat. The inside of your steak can be as rare as you like but the outside must be brown.
- Use the freshest steak you can find. Fresh steak feels firm and is a light cherry red if wrapped or a very dark red if vacuum packed. If your steak is gray and smells bad or is tacky to the touch, do not use it. Do not buy steak past its sell by date or anything with tears or excessive moisture in the packaging.
- Never put cooked meat in the same dish that held it when it was raw because traces of raw meat juices can contaminate cooked meat with harmful bacteria. Wash any dishes or utensils that have touched the raw meat in hot, soapy water.
- When cooking steak, make sure your cooking utensils are clean. This prevents bacteria being spread from raw to cooked food.
As long as you follow the above tips for marinade safety, you can make easy steak marinades with complete peace of mind. Food safety when cooking is always an issue because food poisoning is so unpleasant. However, by developing hygienic cooking habits and taking care when marinating and cooking your steak, you can enjoy a delicious meal with no worries.
