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I stood in the queue to buy my grandsons a beefburger at the BBQ we attended on Saturday evening as part of their village celebrations for the Royal wedding.  There were several people in front of me, and I could see that the burgers being offered were not quite cooked.  Somebody was biting into one next to me and to my horror the inside of it was pink.

In order for my son and his wife not to be up all night with a double whammy of Rameses Revenge, I plumped for sausages instead, which were the right colour and looked the safer option.

It occurred to me that the men cooking the burgers might have no idea of good food hygiene or practise, and there and then I thought of a question:

Why is it that only men cook the food on outside barbeques? 

These men may have never even seen the inside of a kitchen at home, but there they are serving up undercooked burgers to the best of their ‘ability’.

A friend of ours is one of those men who never cook at home, but is always in front of the BBQ in his garden.  His wife will take out a packet of frozen sausages from the freezer and chuck them on the BBQ.  He will ‘cook’ one side of the sausage until it’s covered in black charcoal, before turning it over.

Fortunately I’ve always managed to avoid eating anything he has ever cooked.  He and his wife have no idea that frozen sausages are not a good idea to place on a BBQ, and also that blackened food is carcinogenic.  Any food they cook is always left uncovered on a table for hours.

Perhaps I’m over-cautious, but first of all I will always keep any raw food at the bottom of the fridge so that it doesn’t drip on anything else.  Then I will smell any food I am going to cook – this is a sure-fire way of keeping Rameses Revenge at bay for starters, and then give it the nose test again when it is cooked. I also ensure nothing is ever blackened, as too much blackened food is inviting bowel cancer, and I’ve already had one dose of cancer and do not want a second! I also never leave any food uncovered.  If I’m visiting my youngest son and daughter-in-law, she will not cook anything without asking me if it’s ‘done’, and I have to laugh when I see both of them now smelling any food to be cooked.

Of course I learned it all from Dot, who also smelt any food she cooked.  She also told me never to cook with solid fat such as lard, and to keep off the cakes and biscuits (I never buy biscuits, but sorry Dot, I do like a piece of cake now and then.

Sam once bought a dodgy sandwich from a supermarket and was ill for a week.  Subsequently he always shoves any shop-bought sandwich under my nose before he eats it. According to my sons (and Sam), Mum’s nose test is the best!  But I still want to know…

Why is it that only men cook on outside barbeques?

Can you answer my question?

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