Super Bowl 50 is here! The most important game of the season. It’s also supposed to be themost watched annual television program in the United States.Last year a record 114.5 million people tuned in.
Will you be hosting a Super Bowl party at your house? That’s a lot of food to prepare.
How much food do people eat on Super Bowl Sunday?
Super Bowl Sunday comes in second for how much food people eat — next to Thanksgiving.
I found a few statistics on Wikipedia about just how much food we’re talking about:
Roughly 28,000,000 pounds of chips, which if laid end to end would stretch for 293,000 miles.
90 million chicken wings.
8,000,000 pounds ofguacamole. If all the guacamole consumed was spread over a football field it would be 11.8 feet deep.
What’s usually on the menu?
Certain foods are more likely to be served at Super Bowl parties:
Buffalo hot wings
Pizza
Chili
Potato chips
Dips
Salsa
Play it safe
If you’re hosting a Super Bowl party at your house this Sunday, make sure the food you serve your friends is not only deliciousbut also safe to eat. According toNSF International, a global public health and safety organization, one of the biggest food safety mistakes people make at parties is letting perishable food items sit out for too long.
Mindy Costello, NSF International Consumer Information Specialist, has all kinds of food safety tips to help prevent foodborne illness.
Keep it clean
Dirty hands are one of the biggest culprits for spreading bacteria. Especially when they’re sampling all the finger foods.
Wash your hands and ask your guests to do the same. (Don’t forget the kids.)
The proper way to wash your hands is with soap and warm water— for at least 20 seconds.
What’s the germiest thing in the kitchen? A sponge. Two minutes in the microwave will kill bacteria or graba new one.
Never cook if you’re sick.
Don’t double dip — with your fingers or a utensil. Always use a clean utensil if you taste a dish while cooking and never use your fingers to grab a sample.
Don’t cross-contaminate
To avoid cross-contamination, clean and sanitize all food preparation surfaces before and after handling foods.
Keep raw meat and poultry separate from cooked or ready-to-eat foods.
Always wash any platters, cutting boards or utensils that have touched uncooked meat or poultry with hot soapy water and rinse thoroughly before using with any other food. NSF’s Germ Study found Salmonella, E. coli, yeast and mold on common kitchen appliances such as blender gaskets, can openers and rubber spatulas because the items were not properly disassembled and then cleaned and dried before storage. Yuk!
Hot, hot and cold, cold
Any foods —hot or cold — that have been sitting out at room temperature for more than two hours can easily allow bacteria to multiply and cause illness.
Hot foods need to be kept at 140°F or warmer. Use chafing dishes, slow cookers or warming trays to keep foods warm.
Cold foods need to be kept at 40°F or colder. Keep cold dishes in the refrigerator until just before serving and nest dishes in bowls of ice to help keep the food cold.
Arrange and serve food in smaller portions on several small dishes rather than on one large platter. Replace empty dishes instead of adding fresh food to a dirty platter.
Keep track of how long foods have been sitting out. A general rule of thumb is if it’s perishable and has been sitting out for more than two hours, play it safe and throw it out.
Did you cook it long enough?
Internal temperature, not meat color, indicates doneness. That’s why you need to use a food thermometer. Perishable foods such as meat and poultry need to be cooked to a temperature high enough to kill harmful bacteria.
Steaks — at least 145°F with a three-minute rest time.
Hamburgers —160°F.
Whole or ground poultry —a minimum of 165°F.
Hot dishes that are prepared in advance can be stored in the refrigerator until game time. When your guests arrive, simply reheat the food to an internal temperature of 165°F.
A recipe for you
If you’re looking for a dip recipe, I’ve got one for hummus that’s easy to make and tastes delicious.
Hummus
Hummus
Ingredients
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas). Drain and reserve liquid.
Juice of one lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 TBS liquid from can of garbanzo beans
Dash or two of hot sauce
Instructions
Blend all ingredients in a food processor until fairly smooth,
Use as a dip for cut up vegetables
You could also make individual pita pizzas and substitute the hummus for tomato sauce. You’ll find that recipe in this blog post about trying a Mediterranean diet.
Food safety is always important, but especially when you’re serving lots of food to lots of people, like at Thanksgiving or a Super Bowl party.
I hope your team wins and I hope you score lots of points with your party menu. What’s your favorite/most popular Super Bowl recipe?
Make sure food is cooked to a safe internal temperature. Keep hot foods hot (140°F or warmer) and cold foods cold (40°F or colder) throughout the game. Throw out perishable food that has been sitting at room temperature for more than 2 hours (or more than 1 hour if it has been exposed to temperatures above 90°F).
Keep hot foods hot at 140°F or warmer. Use slow cookers, chafing dishes, and warming trays to keep food hot on the buffet table. Keep cold foods cold at 40°F or below. Use small serving trays and replace often with fresh platters from the refrigerator, or place serving dishes in bowls of ice so they stay chilled.
Always place cooked food in a clean dish for serving, and use a clean spoon or ladle. Never place cooked food back onto the same dish it was on before cooking. Using the same unwashed dish is the surest way to contaminate the cooked food and cause illness.
Keep cold foods in the fridge until just before serving or nestle the food in ice.Keep hot foods at 140 F or above by using a preheated oven, warming trays, chafing dishes or slow cookers, the USDA said.No hygiene Hail MarysIn the excitement of a close game, it can be easy to skip simple steps.
If you are throwing a party at home, safety suggestions include: Register your party with your local police at least one week in advance. Insist that the party is 'invitation only' to reduce the risk of gate-crashers. Ask your guests not to spread the word to others via SMS or the internet.
Foxsports.com suggests kicking off the celebration about 90 minutes before kick-off. Make sure you know these other 13 tips for throwing the ultimate Super Bowl party.
Remember the 2-Hour Rule: Discard any perishables left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours, unless you're keeping it hot or cold. If the buffet is held in a place where the temperature is above 90 °F, the safe holding time is reduced to 1 hour. Watch the clock with leftovers, too!
Hold all potentially hazardous foods out of the danger zone, 40° - 140° F. Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Reach an internal temperature of 165° to 170° F for foods to be held for serving. Maintain a minimum temperature of 140° F during the serving period.
Health officials use three types of data to confirm the source of a multistate foodborne outbreak: epidemiologic, traceback, and food and environmental testing.
Reduce your risk of foodborne illnesses by checking cleanliness ratings, choosing places that look clean, asking how food is prepared, and avoiding foods that sit out in conditions other than proper temperatures.
Introduction: My name is Annamae Dooley, I am a witty, quaint, lovely, clever, rich, sparkling, powerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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