The Important Food Safety Rule To Follow With Your Marinades

With the right marinade, anything's possible. Tough cuts of meat like pork shoulder or beef brisket can be transformed into tender showstoppers, and flavorless foods like tofu can become the center of attention with something as simple as pickle juice. Just make sure to always keep food safety in mind if you're marinating, especially with animal proteins. One of the biggest mistakes people make is using leftover marinade that's touched raw meat on their cooked food, which can cause cross contamination. Don't serve marinade that's touched raw meat as a sauce, and don't use it to baste food while it's cooking.

Cross contamination is when when bacteria or other harmful organisms that cause foodborne illnesses are transferred from one place to another, and it's an everyday food safety mistake you should avoid. Most people are already vigilant about washing their hands and sanitizing cutting boards after each use, but marinades present a couple of sneaky opportunities to accidentally serve something that could make you sick.

To avoid cross contamination, treat any raw protein like hot lava. Anything it touches — including other food — is a transfer point for germs like Salmonella and E. coli.Although a marinade gets cooked when it's spread on a piece of grilling chicken, for example, think of this more like dipping the basting brush into a bowl of raw chicken juice. If that doesn't sound good, you have the right instincts. Just because the surface of the food gets hot enough to sear, that doesn't mean there's any guarantee that you'll reach hot enough temperatures long enough to kill all of the bacteria in the marinade, especially if it's applied right before serving the food. Also, if a basting brush is used to apply marinade that touched raw food, that needs to be washed before you use it to baste any cooked food.

Used marinade can still have a second chance, however, as long as it's cooked properly. Boil the leftovers in a small saucepan on the stove for at least five minutes, which will kill any pathogens and make it safe for serving or basting. If for some reason you don't want to cook the marinade but you still want to save some of that good flavor for later, separate a portion before it touches the meat and you'll have all the sauce and basting liquid you need without worrying about food poisoning.