As the new year approaches, many of us are considering ways to improve. I, myself, am thinking about ways to improve aspects of my life, home, community. One thing on my mind, with all the cases of foodborne illness reports this fall, is food safety.

Indeed, the last half of 2006 has been an eventful year for food safety professionals around the US. Earlier this year we heard about bad spinach. Then the east coast had several illnesses at a major fast food chain. Green onions were the suspect but were later absolved by the FDA. At the same time, several people in Iowa became ill as well, at a different fast food chain. And most recently, Indiana has joined the spotlight, with over 300 people becoming ill at yet another major food chain restaurant.

Science Friday, a radio program on NPR, hosted a program on food safety recently. Part of the program featured a new study of harmful bacteria in whole chickens, done by Consumer Reports. The results of their analysis has astounding implications for those of us in charge of selecting and preparing food for our families: more than 8 of every 10 fresh, whole fryer chickens “harbored campylobacter or salmonella, the leading bacterial causes of foodborne disease.”

Properly cooking and handling raw chicken products is something we can all review as we’re thinking about ways to “do better” in the coming year. Consider investing in a couple of thermometers. Purchase one for your refrigerator (they can be as little as $5.00) and another thermometer with a probe to check food temperature. Chicken should be cooked to a temperature of 165-170 degrees. Your refrigerator should be kept at 40 degrees or less (be sure to check the temp on different shelves to make sure your fridge is operating correctly).

The article from Consumer Reports offers several other good tips as well:

*Don’t return the cooked chicken to the same plate which held it raw. So for example, when you take the raw chicken to the grill and cook it, place the cooked chicken on a clean plate–not the same one that touched the raw chicken.

*Avoid cross contamination. For example, say you are going to fry some chicken breast and have it sitting on one end of a cutting board as some garlic and onion is cooking. You decide to slice the carrots for your fresh salad on the other end of the same cutting board. The raw chicken juices get on the carrot, which goes on your fresh salad…you get the idea. Be sure to use separate cutting boards and wash them promptly and throughly in hot, soapy water!

*Pack the chicken on the bottom, in its own plastic bag. Place the chicken package in a clean plastic bag. Be aware of how the checkout folks are packing your groceries and how you place them in the fridge. Small tears in packaging can occur. You don’t want chicken juice to leak out of one of these tears onto your other food. To be safe, place the chicken on the bottom–below the beef, the pork, the vegetables, etc.

*Never reuse plastic bags which have contained raw or cooked meat.

*Wash hands. During one of my cooking sessions recently (35+ pounds of pork!) I was in the middle of processing one of the 8-pound loins and needed to take a break. Before returning to the pork, I washed my hands twice: once in the bathroom and then again at the kitchen sink, before returning to the meat.

These tips can substantially reduce your risk of foodborne illness. You will find more tips on the FDA’s website.

Happy Cooking!

Q. I see that several of your recipes are to be grilled. With our winter nights too cold to be outside grilling, is there a viable alternative such as the oven?

A. Yes. As with the slow cooker recipes (Q&A posted December 3), we gave you directions in the book that we felt would produce the best results. But many cooks will bake or broil items that would otherwise be grilled and report great results. One thing to keep in mind is that the flavors of sauces and marinades are often mellowed by the grill - so if you decide to bake an entree, you can count on the flavor or heat to be stronger.

Q. Tonight I tried mozzarella meatballs, or, as we call them, ‘exploding meatballs’ (cheese everywhere)! What size should I aim for with the meatballs? Is it necessary to spray the pans? I had problems with sticking and browning. I’m persistent because these sure were good, even ‘exploded’!

A. These meatballs are good! They are definitely a favorite of many customers. The biggest factor in keeping the cheese inside and the meatballs from sticking is to use ground beef that is not too lean (just avoid the very leanest ground beef and you’ll be fine). If there isn’t enough fat, the meatballs crack and cheese spills out and they are more likely to stick to an ungreased pan. I usually roll mine about the size of a whole walnut in the shell. The size doesn’t seem to be much of a factor to cheese leaking out. One other thing to consider how long these bake - there have been times when I left them in the oven a little long and some cheese leaked out. The nice thing about mozzarella is that it still clings to the meatball even if it is on the outside!

Q. I made the Urban Chicken recipe in my slow cooker and it was delicious and ready when we all got home at dinnertime. Have you prepared any other recipes in your book in the slow cooker with success? I’d love more ideas!

A. Recipes for the slow cooker really depend a lot on personal taste. I have one friend who puts everything in the slow cooker whereas I am more particular about what I make in the slow cooker.

• The recipes in the book with slow cooker instructions are:  Beef Barley Soup, Cheese Steaks, Ginger Beef, Apple and Cranberry Baked Pork Loin, Garlic Studded Pork Loin and Pork Loin Ragout.
• Page 36 describes a great way to use the slow cooker to cook whole chickens in advance and the Urban Garlic Chicken recipe has a note about slow cooker preparation (as you mentioned)
• I also use the slow cooker to reheat any of the meatball recipes (on low for Salisbury).
• If you try the fajitas with pork loin, I’ve been told they are fantastic done in the slow cooker.
• A great time saver with Cam’s Ribs and Sticky Ribs is to have the ribs cooking in water in the slow cooker all day and then putting them in the oven with the sauce right before dinner.

There were other recipes we tested in the slow cooker but didn’t put the option in the book because we decided they weren’t the best that way. We do encourage our cooks to experiment with what works best for them, though. Keep in mind that with slow cooking, a lot more moisture is retained than with baking. This is great in the case of a whole chicken (tons of delicious broth) but not so great in a recipe where the sauce is supposed to reduce and get thick or sticky.