I don’t like touching meat. How can I cook with it?

Q: I want to learn to cook meat, but I don’t like touching it, and I always overcook it because I’m worried about getting sick. Where do I even begin with this?

A: A reader recently posed this question in our weekly live chat, where we help you level up your skills in the kitchen.

I agree wholeheartedly with my colleague Aaron Hutcherson, whose very first piece of advice was to invest in an instant-read thermometer. (Bonus: It’s also great for baking!) The internal temperature of the meat – not the color or the texture – is the surefire way to know when you have reached a safe cooking temperature. Start there and you’ll already be a long way toward easing those concerns about overcooking and food safety.

As to touching the meat: Start by using tongs. You can also consider food-safe gloves, a standard in the restaurant industry. I would never encourage someone to do something that makes them truly uncomfortable, but it’s likely that your comfort level working with meat will increase as you build your confidence. Cooking is by nature a tactile experience, and often the best way to get it done is by really getting in there with your hands. With cooking meat, tasks such as adding a dry rub or breading cutlets are best done the old-fashioned way.

If you’re seeking cooking strategies for minimizing your need to handle the meat, there are a couple of ways to go. First, and perhaps counterintuitively, there’s the “cook a giant hunk of meat” route. If you pick the right recipe, there’s usually very little to do other than seasoning the cut and, depending on the recipe, searing it, if desired. Think whole chicken, pot roast, pork shoulder or leg of lamb. Roasting is always a possibility, but braising is especially foolproof and gentle, giving you a little more wiggle room in ensuring the meat isn’t overcooked, assuming you have the time to devote to this low-and-slow method. Braise in a covered Dutch oven in the oven, or speed up the cooking with your Instant Pot. On the flip side, a slow cooker can give you meltingly tender meat with very little risk of overcooking.

At the other end of the spectrum, go with much smaller cuts that require minimal prep or post-cooking carving. I’m a huge proponent of cooking in parchment, or foil, packets, otherwise known by the French term “en papillote.” Often all that’s needed is tucking a small protein into the parcel with some spices, aromatics, quick-cooking vegetables and a little liquid. While packets are often recommended for especially delicate seafood, they work well with boneless, skinless chicken breasts, too. Or take those chicken breasts and try poaching them. Place the meat in the cooking liquid of your choice with some aromatics, and that’s about it.

Regardless of which way you go, know that practicing good kitchen hygiene and abiding by recommended food safety practices greatly reduce the likelihood of foodborne illness. That includes such essentials as proper hand washing; cleaning and sanitizing surfaces that come in contact with raw meat (I set newspaper under my meat cutting board to further reduce the odds of anything getting on my counter); having devoted utensils for raw meat that you then clean/sanitize or run through the dishwasher; storing leftovers promptly; and, as I said earlier, cooking meat to its safe internal temperature.

Be patient with yourself, try to have fun and enjoy the process. Good luck!