My favorite time of year is here, college football season. My team, the Kansas State University Wildcats kicks off their season Saturday night on the road against Auburn. Even though I won’t be traveling to the game I’ll still be doing the one thing I love to do before a home game, grilling out. To me, nothing is better than getting in some brats and burgers before walking up to the stadium to cheer on my cats. However, the tailgating scene can get pretty crazy sometimes and food safety may slip some people’s minds. Here are some good tips for the tailgating season.

• Keep cold food in a cooler at less than 40°F (and keep there beers this cold too!)
• Make sure the different meats are kept wrapped to prevent cross contamination. Making a burger topped with chicken is delicious, but stacking these meats is only acceptable after cooking
• Cook food to the right temperature
  • Steaks (beef, pork, fish, lamb) – 145°F
  • Ground (beef, pork, lamb) – 160°F
  • Chicken (whole, ground) – 165°F
• Probably the smartest thing you can have is a meat thermometer. It’s the only true and tested way to tell if the food is done, and many are small enough to fit in your pocket. These should be a tailgater’s best friend.
• Hot foods should not be left out for more than 2 hours. As much as you might want to have some food after the game, it is not acceptable to leave the burgers out for all 4 quarters. Put it away and reheat if needed.

              (source: FDA)

The post title is a play on a popular chant at K-state games, thus I find it easy to remember to heat my foods to the proper temperatures. Starting next week you can find me at the Bill Snyder Family Stadium cooking, and losing my voice inside the stadium (from about where the picture above was taken).

    Prediction: KSU 21 – Auburn 20