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The Most Affordable U.S. cities for grilling

If your budget says ‘bowl full of ramen’ but your tastes say ‘grilled ribeye’, consider that moving to a different zip code may mean you can indulge your carnivorous cravings more often. It turns out that grilling in certain United States cities is far less expensive than it is in others. ApartmentGuide.com recently crunched some numbers to figure out the most affordable cities to grill in, based on the average prices of popular grilling goods such as steak, sausage, and beer, along with the cost of living for a one bedroom apartment. The website ranked a total of 257 U.S. cities. Each of four food categories (steak, ground beef, sausage, and beer), received a score from 1-257 (1 being most affordable) based on the average price of that food in that city. The four scores were then tallied and average to determine a Grilling Affordability Score (GRS). The results? If…

Why you should always ‘rest’ meat after cooking

When the smell of sizzling, charred steak is wafting through the air, it can be hard to delay any further gratification. You want to dive fork first into that juicy piece of meat and feast until you’re full. But before you make this backyard barbecue blunder, you should understand the importance of resting meat. Let’s explore. What happens to cooked meat? Cooking a piece of meat causes the proteins to ‘set’. The more cooked the meat, the more ‘set’ the proteins are, thus creating the variation in firmness between, say, a raw and well-done piece of meat. A meat thermometer can tell you exactly how cooked your piece of meat is, but most cooks pride themselves on being able to tell doneness using only the tong test. (Poke any steak with a pair of tongs and the amount of push-back will tell you its approximate doneness.) Why all meat should rest…

7 steps to prep your grill for grilling season

You might have already packed away your sweaters and scarves, but before this summer can really heat up, you need to give your grill its annual checkup. It might not be the most exciting item on your upcoming schedule, but nothing can kill an outdoor dinner party faster than a broken grill. So for the sake of future fun, follow this advice to make sure your grill is ready for its Memorial Day debut and beyond. Also read, How to kick off grilling season with proper food safety. 1. Deep clean the grates. Little charred bits don’t add flavor — by now, it’s just dirt that can make you sick. Cleaning your grates regularly will prevent dangerous bacteria buildup, improve the taste of your food, and also reduce the risk of fire. Grill grates can be cleaned a variety of different ways, but to really start the season off right, consider…

10 bad kitchen habits you need to break now

We all make mistakes in the kitchen — especially when we’re just starting out. But great cooks learn to be great by learning from their mistakes. Whether you’re a seasoned professional chef or a 20-something try-hard, if you’ve picked up any of these bad habits in the kitchen ditch them right now! Your cooking is suffering and you might not even know it. 1. Your knives are always dull When you’re using a dull knife, you actually increase your risk of getting injured. A sharp knife easily slices through anything, but a dull blade needs some force. This means it’s more likely to slip out of your hand and cut you — possibly seriously. If you don’t know how to properly sharpen a knife, no worries. You can get it done by a professional relatively cheaply. Once sharp, remember to store them with their blades protected in knife guards. Never…

Foods you should avoid during the government shutdown

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that the government is in a partial shutdown sparked by differences of opinion between the president of the United States and members of Congress over funding for Trump’s border wall. More than 800,000 federal employs have gone unpaid during this, the longest government shutdown in history. One of the affected departments is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.   You know — the ones who check to make sure our food is safe to eat. Without proper funding, FDA employees aren’t able to adequately carry out crucial tasks including publishing recalls and outbreaks. The absence of this vital information would be bad enough, but after 2018’s record number of FDA recalls, ranging from romaine to Goldfish crackers, its a bit unnerving what we might be missing in the wake of the agency’s absence. Before the government shutdown, it wasn’t unusual for the FDA to…

Kick off grilling season with proper food safety

For many Americans, the official kickoff to summer picnic and grilling season happens this weekend. With all of that food handling happening, it’s inevitable than many of us will end our fun afternoons with no-so-fun circumstances. An estimated 128,000 people nationwide will end up in the hospital with foodborne illnesses this year, but many of these can be prevented by properly cooking and storing foods when traveling and cooking out. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recommends that you refresh your memory on food safety before diving into summer festivities. Grilling basics: Keep perishable foods at or below 40ºF. Food should never sit out longer than 2 hours. If weather is hot, knock this down to 60 minutes. Pack separate coolers for perishable items and other items like drinks, if people will be reaching in and out. This will ensure your meats or poultry stay cold,…

You can lose weight twice as fast with this diet method, research shows

When we want to shed some pounds, we typically look to dropping sugars and carbs from our diets. But a new study reveals that cutting back on sweeteners and breads might not be the most effective method after all. The most successful weight loss could come from ditching something more dieter-friendly at first glance — meat. The research published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition revels that dieters adopting vegetarian diets not only boost their metabolism but end up losing more weight overall — twice as much weight, in fact. A group of 74 participants with type 2 diabetes followed strict vegetarian diets of grains, vegetables, fruits and nuts. What researchers saw was that the vegetarian diet was twice as effective as the more common diet method at helping people shed pounds. Participants on the veggie diet lost on average 14 pounds vs. the typical 7 pounds. But the participants didn’t…

This is why you should never defrost food on the kitchen counter or microwave

We’ve all been there — the intention to cook a nice chicken breast for dinner only to realize we’ve forgotten to defrost. Rather than looking for an alternative, we attempt to speed up the process by tossing the meat in the microwave instead. So what’s the big deal? Well, defrosting at those warm temperatures puts you at serious risk of eating dangerous levels of bacteria. Yikes! According to Professor Costa Stathopoulos from Abertay University, defrosting meat in the microwave “is really not the best of techniques.” Stathopoulos appeared on BBC Two’s Inside the Factory earlier this month and showed the difference between turkey meat that had been defrosted in the fridge versus turkey meat defrosted on the counter. The latter had twice the amount of harmful bacteria, including ecoli microorganisms. And that’s not even considering the warm temps the meat reaches in the microwave. Cold temperatures slow down bacterial growth, so your chance of an upset stomach…

Vegan sausages coming to a store near you

Beyond Meat is expanding its line of mimicked animal proteins. The popular manufacturer of faux burgers and chicken strips (that even fooled food master Alton Brown), released its first pork knockoff product this week with a vegan sausage line they claim “looks, sizzles, and satisfies” like the real deal. The first of its kind, Beyond Sausage is a blend of pea, fave bean and rice protein structured to deliver a taste comparable to that of pork sausage. Trace amounts of beet give the meat its red color, coconut oil ensures juiciness and 100 percent plant-based casking derived from algae, gives it that slight exterior snap. Consumers can try the product in three varieties — Original Bratwurst, Hot Italian, and Sweet Italian. The products are engineers to taste like pork, but the nutritional benefits far outdo anything off the animal. The company says these links have 14 percent more protein, half the fat, 27 percent fewer…

Learn to build a charcuterie board like a pro

During the holidays, when we’re almost guaranteed to be entertaining, the charcuterie board is a brilliant way to keep guests satisfied until the main course comes out. It’s the ultimate make-ahead appetizer, giving guests a fabulous feast without wasting any precious space in the already over-worked oven. In case you’re unfamiliar, or have trouble pronouncing it (like me and everyone else), it’s shar-kood-er-ee. But you can make it easy on yourself and just call it a cheeseboard. (Technically a cheeseboard is primarily cheese, while ‘charcuterie’ is the French word that refers just to the cured meats. But most people today use the terms interchangeably.) The larger platters are more appropriately named for the types of items that are included. Italians call it ‘antipasti.’ Greeks call it ‘mezze.’ Spanish call it ‘tapas.’ It’s all pretty much the same idea — small servings of each culture’s take on breads, spreads, meats, cheeses and snackable fruits and veggies,…