Out With the Old, In With the New: Food Safety Tips

Tis' the season to stock pile leftovers in your refrigerator, but do you know how long they are safe to eat? Soup is a wonderful tummy warming winter meal and we tend to make a huge pot to have leftovers, but when does your hearty leftover become a health problem? Below are a list of leftover items and the suggested time to eat them safely, after all it is better to be safe than sick.

Leftover: Safe Eating Time

Cooked fresh vegetables: 4 days
Cooked pasta: 5 days
Cooked rice: 7 days
Salads (egg, chicken, ham, tuna and macaroni): 4 days

Cooked sliced ham: 4 days
Opened hot dogs: 7 days
Opened prepackaged lunch meats: 5 days
Deli lunch meat: 5 days
Cooked Meat or Poultry: 4 days
Fresh Poultry: 2 days
Fresh Beef, Pork and Lamb: 5 days
Ground meats: 2 days
Corned beef: 7 days
Opened bacon: 1 week
Unopened bacon: 2 weeks
Raw sausage: 2 days
Precooked sausage: 7 days
Opened summer sausage: 3 weeks
Unopened summer sausage: 3 months
Opened sliced pepperoni: 3 weeks
Casseroles with meat: 4 days

Meat or Vegetable Soups: 4 days

Pizza: 4 days
Chicken nuggets or patties: 4 days

Hard boiled eggs: 7 days
Casseroles with eggs: 4 days
Quiche: 4 days

Pies: 4 days

Opened hard or processed cheeses: 4 weeks

Best rule of thumb: If in doubt, throw it out!

This is a great list to live by, but remember there are other factors that can alter these times. Such as, not having your refrigerator set below 40° or not refrigerating your leftovers immediately. Food doesn't need to cool before placing it into the refrigerator. This leads me into another topic, how long is left out food safe to eat? Think about this when you are eating at a New Year's Eve party.

After you set out your New Year's Eve appetizer spread, set the timer for two hours. After two hours, harmful bacteria multiplies rapidly, increasing the risk of foodborne illnesses. You should promptly refrigerate food after it has been sitting out for two hours.

ENJOY!!!

Gourmet Bratwurst Sandwich

A gourmet bratwurst may sound like an oxymoron (definition: contradictory terms that appear in conjunction), gourmet being a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine foods and a bratwurst typically found in a face stuffing casual environment. Even sillier is the thought of a baseball fan devouring a brat at a fine dinning establishment with ketchup and mustard running down the sides of his mouth or a well-to-do business man delicately cutting into a steak in the bleachers at a baseball game. However, these two worlds can collide quite brilliantly, as done by adding the gourmet flavors of Horseradish and Blue Cheese to our Triple T bratwurst. The rich flavor combination is the perfect enhancement to many dishes including the below gourmet sandwich recipe. 

Gourmet Bratwurst Sandwich

Ingredients: 

- 1/2 cup finely chopped green olives

- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

- 4 ciabatta rolls

- 4 Horseradish & Blue Cheese Bratwursts 

- 1/2 cup bottled piquillo peppers or roasted red peppers drained and cut into strips

- 2 cups baby arugula

Directions:

Cook bratwursts in skilled over medium heat. Cut cooked bratwursts in half lengthwise. Combine olives and oil, spread on bottom halves of the rolls. Place bratwurst halves on bottom of roll and top with peppers and arugula. 

ENJOY!!!

Who Needs A Bun Series: Bratwurst Pasta

Did you ever imagine that you would combine a bratwurst with a pasta dish? No? Well, maybe you have never had one of Triple T's gourmet bratwursts. The one used for this recipe has a smooth and rich combination of blue cheese and horseradish, which adds a delicious and distinctive flavor to the below four cheese pasta recipe. Try it!


Four Cheese Pasta with Blue Cheese & Horseradish Bratwursts

Ingredients:

- 4 Triple T Blue Cheese & Horseradish Gourmet Bratwursts
- 2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1/2 cup Butter
- 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup Provolone Cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup Ramano Cheese, shredded
- 4 ounces Crushed Tomatoes
- 12 ounce Penne Pasta

Additional Topping Options:

- Shredded Parmesan Cheese
- Crushed Red Pepper

Directions:

Start cooking the bratwursts.

Cooking bratwursts...

This can be done in a number of ways: grilled, baked, boiled or fried. Grilling them during warm seasons gives the pasta a delicious grilled taste, but that is not always an option so pick the option that will work best for you. Then cut bratwursts into 1/2" slices.

In the meantime, in a medium sauce pan combine whipping cream and butter, bring to a simmer over medium heat and stir frequently. Simultaneously, prepare pasta according to the directions on the package. After the butter melts, slowly add shredded cheeses and crushed tomatoes. Reduce heat to low and continue to stir until all cheeses have melted. Serve sauce over cooked pasta and top with bratwurst slices.

ENJOY!!!

Apple-Cinnamon Pork Chops

Fall Favorites

Though it is sometimes difficult watching the liveliness of summer slowly extinguish, there are so many wonderful fall splendors to relish, appearances of Mother Nature's canvas turning from a blanket of greens to an assortment of cardinal, rust and chocolate bold colors, echoes of crunching leaves as neighborhood kids gather for a friendly game of football in the backyard, fragrances of those same leaves burning after they have been neatly raked and piled, strokes of a cool breeze nudging you closer to a loved one.

What are some of your fall favorites? Fall flavors, of course, are my favorite. I especially love the taste of fresh orchard picked apples paired with cinnamon in apple cider, apple crisp and this apple cinnamon pork chop recipe. Try it and bring the flavors of fall to your dinner table.

Apple-Cinnamon Pork Chops

Ingredients:

- 4 Triple T Apple-Cinnamon Pork Chops
- 2 tablespoons Butter
- 3 tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 4 Fuji Apples, sliced
- 3 tablespoons Walnuts

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat, add pork chops and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side or until thermometer reads 160°. Remove chops to the side and keep warm. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, apples, brown sugar mixture and walnuts to the leftover drippings in the skillet. Continue to cook over medium heat while stirring continuously until the apples are tender. Plate pork chops and spoon sauce with apples over each pork chop.

Notes: The flavor of Triple T's apple-cinnamon marinated pork chops enhances the flavor of this recipe throughout each bite. However, non-marinated fresh pork chops may be substituted for this recipe.

ENJOY!!!

Black Cherry Smoked Pork Chops

If Pork Month were a story, this recipe would be the perfect happy ending. As October comes to a close, we feature yet another favored Triple T specialty pork item, our smoked pork chops topped with a delicious black cherry sauce. Try it, you will love how it enhances the rich and smokey flavor of the pork chop.

Black Cherry Smoked Pork Chops

Ingredients:

- 4 Bone In Smoked Pork Chops
- 1/4 cup  Butter
- 3/4 cup Shallots, sliced
- 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen black cherries, pitted and halved (canned works too if you are unable to find fresh or frozen)
- 2 tablespoons red wine
- 1/4 cup Beef Broth
- 1/4 teaspoon Dried Rosemary
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F and line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place chops on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. In the meantime, melt the butter over medium heat and stir in the shallots and cherries. Cook until shallots have begun to soften. Add red wine and beef broth then bring to a simmer. Add rosemary and olive oil, simmer until the sauce has reduced and slightly thickened. Pour over pork chops and serve.

ENJOY!!!

Bratwurst Patties

How Do You Top Your Brat? 

Share your favorite bratwurst topping with us before the end of October and we will enter your name into our Pork Month drawing for a FREE Smoked Bone In Ham. Click here for complete contest details.

Bratwurst & Kraut 

Ingredients:

1 package Triple T Bratwurst Patties (on sale this week)

1 package of Hamburger Buns

4 ounces of Sour Kraut

4 teaspoons Dijon Mustard

Directions:

Grill or pan fry bratwurst patties. Top each patty with 2 tablespoons of sour kraut and 1 tablespoon of Dijon Mustard. Serve with crinkle cut fries and cheese sauce.

Cheese Sauce  

Ingredients:

4 oz Velveeta Cheese

2 tablespoons Sour Cream

1/4 cup Milk

1 teaspoon Lowery's Seasoning Salt

Directions:

Melt Velveeta in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add milk, sour cream and seasoning salt, stir until creamy. Serve warm. 

ENJOY!!!

Cottage Bacon

In recognition of October being Pork Month, Triple T will be placing various pork items on special throughout the month. Purchasing the items on special and answering our Facebook trivia questions correctly will get your name placed in our drawing for a FREE Smoked Bone In Ham. Click HERE for more details. This week’s special is cottage bacon. What is cottage bacon? Do you know?

Many people don’t know what cottage bacon is, so this blog post is dedicated to helping you understand what it is and how it can be a terrific substitute for your every day bacon. 

Cottage bacon, not be mistaken with Canadian bacon which comes from the loin section of the pig, is made from pork shoulder. Therefore, it is much more lean than typical bacon that comes from the belly section of the pig, but has a nice even marbling giving it close to the same flavor with less fat. Less fat means less shrinkage, giving you a better value for your money. 

Cottage bacon varies in flavor, just as typical bacon varies in flavor due to different recipes and production methods. Triple T’s cottage bacon has a savory flavor with a hint of sweetness and a smoky finish.  

Triple T’s cottage bacon is pressed giving it a rectangular shape, but larger in width than average bacon. Some cottage bacon may not be pressed giving it an oval shape. Triple T’s cottage bacon is not fully cooked, so just like typical bacon it needs to be cooked before consuming. 

Because Triple T’s cottage bacon is made with the same seasoning as our belly bacon, it is a delicious, meatier and leaner substitute in BLT sandwiches, with eggs, wrapped around grilled items and for any recipe calling for bacon. Keep in mind that it is leaner, so it does not produce as much grease as your average bacon.