It’s Thanksgiving, Take Our Annual Cook-Safely Quiz!

Media
Nov 26
6 min read

Thanksgiving! For home chefs, it’s the Oscars, the Super Bowl, the biggest, feast-i-est day of the year.

And the quickest way to ruin the occasion would be to serve your family and friends heaping platefuls of something that could make them sick — like salmonella, listeria or other dangerous bacteria.

It can happen. Those are exactly the things that can be carried by your turkey, stuffing, vegetables, salads and desserts if you’re not prepping, cleaning and cooking safely.

Luckily, there are some simple rules to keep you and everyone safe and make you shine like the feast-chef you are.

As always, our annual Thanksgiving safe-cooking quiz will help you bone up! And this year, we’ve added a fiery bonus video. It will help keep you adventurous chefs who plan to deep-fat-fry their turkey safe!

So, take the quiz, keep you and yours safe and have a great Thanksgiving!

You’re cooking the turkey, or a big roast, beef, pork, or a ham. What is the right way to thaw frozen meat?

A. Pretty easy really. The key is to shop early. Then, just leave it out on the counter. After a couple days, it will be mushy-soft on the outside. Then cook!

B. OK, so you forgot to shop early. No worries. Run the frozen meat under hot water. Until, you know, it’s like mushy-soft on the outside.

C. Do NOT let that guy into your kitchen! Plan ahead. Meats, poultry, fish should be defrosted slowly and evenly in your refrigerator.

D. It’s not like this is adulting. The microwave has a defrost button right on it. Hit defrost and get on with everything else.

Answer: C. If you picked A or B, please order-out instead. The absolute best and safest way to thaw meat is to do it in the refrigerator, as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends. That’s because a refrigerator allows meat to thaw slowly and evenly. Thawing other ways can leave parts of defrosted meat to stand at room temperature where bacteria can multiply exponentially.

Note: The USDA says that you can also thaw meats in cold water. But — and this is important — the water must be cold, under 40 degrees, and should be changed every 30 minutes to keep it cold. You can also thaw a turkey in a microwave. But if you do, you also need to IMMEDIATELY cook it after microwaving. That’s because a microwave thaws the inside first, to a temperature where bacteria can quickly multiply even as the outside is still thawing. Thawing in the fridge is easier!

How often do you need to wash your hands and cutting boards when preparing food?

A. Life hack! Wear gloves! Like, you can repurpose your oven mitts! That way you can prep AND take hot stuff out of the oven at the same time.

B. Always during food prep; before prepping vegetables; and always after cutting or working with raw meat, fish or poultry.

C. Washing hands and cutting boards? Who the heck has time for that?

D. After you sneeze, blow your nose or have to run to the bathroom.

E. The answer is B and D; but mainly, “OFTEN!”

Answer: Definitely E. Again, keep the life hack guy out of your kitchen. You should wash your hands and cutting boards before and after everything in B and D and pretty much as often as you can in the kitchen. Handwashing is always a key part of safe cooking. Harmful bacteria, from E. coli to salmonella and staphylococcus aureus, as well as viruses, can be removed from people’s hands through proper handwashing.

Here are a few other things you should wash your hands after doing: coughing, handling money, eating, drinking, petting the dog or cat, picking up the kids, handling your cell phone.

Is it really important to rinse off fruits and vegetables?

A. I know this one! No. They wash them at the supermarket, right?

B. Wash ‘em. You should definitely rinse fruits and vegetables with cold water. It will remove lingering dirt that can carry bacteria.

C. I Googled this on Twitter and it said this is exactly why they invented kitchen aprons. Just wipe them off on the front of your apron.

D. I only buy organic and I don’t think you need to rinse them. I mean, they’re literally from the Earth.

Answer: B. Definitely wash ‘em. Rinsing with cold water cleans off dirt and other contaminants (think germs, not minerals…). But don’t wash them with detergents or soap, even dishwashing soap. You could end up eating residues from those cleaners if they’re absorbed by fruits and vegetables.

Why should you keep raw meats and meat products separated from fruits and vegetables when cutting them up or preparing them?

A. Lively-Baldoni, Ali-Frazier, Perry the Platypus and Dr. Doofenshmirtz; meats and fruits and veggies do NOT get along. You’re just asking for a food fight.

B. Hey man, if mixing them together will make vegetables taste a little more like meat — I’m all for keeping them together!

C. I just asked AI. It wants to know what everyone else says.

D. Because raw meats, meat products and blood can carry bacteria like E. coli and salmonella that can contaminate fruits and vegetables — and make people sick.

Answer: The correct answer is D. Cross-contamination is one of the most common causes of food-borne illness according to the USDA. That is, the transfer of harmful bacteria from one food — particularly raw meats, poultry and shellfish — to other foods. When preparing food, you need to keep raw meats and their juices away from fruits, vegetables and all ready-to-eat foods.

Note: If you can, use separate cutting boards for meats and produce. If you can’t use separate cutting boards, wash yours with hot, soapy water after using them on raw meats and before using them to cut fruits and vegetables. Or use your cutting board to chop vegetables first, then use it to prepare your uncooked meat, then wash it with hot, soapy water.)

Is the “five-second rule” real? Can you eat something you’ve dropped on the floor if you pick it up in less than five seconds?

A. It’s actually the five-MINUTE rule. As long as nobody steps on it, you can pick it up and eat it. Especially if no one sees it.

B. I never used to believe in the 5-second rule. But I’m more into environmental sustainability now. Just shake it off. I mean, my pets eat stuff off the floor all the time and they never get sick.

C. You really shouldn’t eat anything you’ve dropped on floor. The “five-second rule” is NOT real.

Answer: C. Eating food off the floor is OK for pets but NOT people. So the 5-second rule is a myth. Truth is, almost any contact is long enough for food to be contaminated by bacteria that can be found on the ground or in your house. According to Rutgers University, bacteria can transfer from a surface to food in less than one second!

And for the umpteenth year in a row, here’s our favorite cook-safely quiz question. Like Thanksgiving itself, it is an annual institution.

What is the Danger Zone? And what does it have to do with Thanksgiving dinner?

A. The Danger Zone is YOUR kitchen if you didn’t get any of the previous questions right!

B. It’s that stretch that runs from your kitchen to the dinner table — the gauntlet you have maneuver to dodge doggie toys, kid toys, kids, family or guests to get the food safely to the table without tripping and spilling everything everywhere!

C. I know. I know. The movie is 39 years old. But you know what? As long as Tom Cruise is still flying and it’s still the number one search on Google there is only ONE Danger Zone! Top Gun! Cruise! Kenny Loggins! Sing it with me! “Highway to the DANGER ZONE! Riiiide in — toooo the DANGER ZONE!”

D. No, the real Danger Zone is the range of temperatures between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s the temperature zone where bacteria can grow like crazy in foods, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes.

Answer: D; it’s definitely D. With all due respect to Top Gun, and the gauntlet, the real “Danger Zone” is that range of temperatures between 40 degrees and 140 degrees Fahrenheit that allows bacteria to breed exponentially —not a good thing. If hot foods cool or cold foods heat up enough to enter that zone, your food can become a bacteria-fest. And you, your family and friends can end up getting sick. So, keep hot foods hot with chafing dishes, preheated steam tables, warming trays, slow cookers and ovens. And keep cold foods cold in containers on ice or in the fridge. Also, you should also refrigerate leftovers as soon as you can, but definitely within two hours.

So, there’s the quiz! Now you’re an expert. But if you’re still interested, you can get more information about food safety tips at FoodSafety.gov ’s “Food Safety by Types of Food” webpage, or by calling the USDA’s Meat and Poultry hotline at 1-888-674-6854.

And finally, this year we have a bonus video for you adventure-loving chefs thinking about deep-fat-frying the Thanksgiving Turkey. It has tips for how to do that safely and not let your feast turn into a deep-fried turkey disaster.