Tips Tips Tips

• Wash your hands, I hate to sound like mom, but do it and use soap.
• Use only the best ingredients, garbage in garbage out.
• Always wash your vegetables, fruits and chicken.
• Always use a sharp knife, spend the $2.00 and get the knife sharpened.
• Always cut your vegetables and fruit first, then your meats.
• Marinate boneless and skinless meats for 5 minutes before cooking, do not marinate for hours or over night, unless... You are marinating an item such as chicken wings. The skin will slow down the absorption of the sauce. Marinate wings 20 minutes or longer to your taste. Always Baste with clean sauce, not the sauce you marinated in, throw that away. Always pour some clean sauce into a small container and use a clean brush, do NOT put a dirty brush into the bottle. Baste at the last half-hour or END of the cooking time, other wise your supper will look like a charcoal briquette.
• Use clean sauce as a dip, NOT the sauce you used to baste.
  
• Play with your food, experiment, grill or pan fry some green beans and use my Garlic & Jalapeno sauce on them during the last 3 minutes of cooking... wow.
• You should always cook by temperature, and know your oven; they will always have hot and cold spots inside the oven. So you should know your temps, at what temp will food be thoroughly cooked. You can adjust for your taste. Although ALWAYS cook hamburger for children and the elderly WELL done 180* F. They will have a very hard time if they contract any E-coli. Adults will get sick or feel upset, but it can kill children and the elderly and we are their guardians.
• Poultry - Chicken & Turkeys 175 to 180 * F
• Pork - Ribs, Chops, Pork Roasts 165* - 175 * F
• Beef - Adjustable to taste 125- 130 * F for Rare to 150 * F for well done. The larger the size of the beef the more the carry over of cooking will be done upon removal from the oven. Some roasts will continue to cook and extra 5 to 10 degrees after they are removed from the oven.
  Fish - Fish, Shrimp and Scallops till the opaque color is gone. This all depends upon the fish or shellfish and the thickness of the cut, Generally around 140* F. You should have a piece that you can open and check the inside of the scallop or shrimp to see if the color has changed to a solid white throughout the whole piece. Then I usually give it a couple more minutes in case there are larger scallops or shrimps in the cooking process. Fish I cook till it starts to flake, usually around 10 minutes per inch thick. Unless you like your tuna cooked on the rare side.