Missouri Beef Industry Council

Make Summer Grilling Safe and Savory with Beef

Columbia, MO (AgNewsWire) The Missouri Beef Industry Council (MBIC) has teamed up with Orscheln Farm and Home to make this summer grilling season safe and savory for everyone and especially sweet for some lucky winner of a Fiesta Blue Ember gas grill.

A recent consumer survey found that grilling is a popular pastime for 79 percent of Americans and 63 percent say the food they most often cook on the grill is beef. MBIC Marketing Director Dawn Thurnau has a few simple tips can ensure great beef on the grill every time.

“The first is to always cook your beef over medium heat to make sure it is done uniformly all the way through without the edges being seared,” Thurnau said. For gas grills, that simply means turning the temperature knob to medium. “If you are cooking over a charcoal grill, the coals should be medium ash covered and that means you should be able to hold your hand at cooking height for exactly four seconds before the heat makes you pull it away,” she said.

Thurnau recommends following some secrets of professional grillers to get the best results for beef on the grill.

“The first secret of the pros is to always turn with tongs, not a fork, to avoid using the flavorful juices,” said Thurnau. “Another tip is to let the steak sit for about five minutes before serving to redistribute the juices.”

And the simple secret to branding steaks with those grill marks that just make them look great is a hot grill grate sprayed with cooking spray or olive oil.

To be sure beef on the grill is safe as well as savory, Thurnau recommends avoiding cross contamination by using a separate plates and utensils for raw and cooked meat, and by cooking meat to the proper internal temperature. Burgers should be 160 degrees (with no pink remaining) while steaks and roasts only need to be medium rare at 145 degrees.

Orscheln Farm and Home is helping the beef industry promote great grilling this summer by providing a Fiesta Blue Ember gas grill with a retail value of $399.

“They are truly the King of Grills,” Thurnau said. “They have a side burner and cooler on one side and it’s just a great grill for Dad.”

Thurnau believes the partnership with Orscheln is an effective use of the $1 per head beef checkoff program for both producers and consumers in the state.

“Orscheln Farm and Home is actually a great retail outlet to partner with,” she said. “Not only are they in practically every area of the state, but they also have friendly, helpful staff that can answer product questions as they come up and they do have great products there.”

To enter the Grill Give-Away, visit www.mobeef.org between Friday, June 6 and Father’s Day, June 15th. The winner will be drawn randomly at 8:00 AM on Monday, June 16th and notified within 24 hours.