A Cookbook for Someone Who Doesn’t Know How to Cook

By Gary J. Boos

This book is intended for a man or woman who has little experience in using an oven or broiler, has never fried an egg, doesn’t know when or when not to proportion a recipe, rarely shops for fresh greens, has never flipped vegetables in a frying pan, usually does not use a claw grip when cutting, does not know what Mise en place means, what pots and pans to buy, does not know if butter has a higher smoke point than EVOO, can’t explain what “shortening” is and doesn’t know if you can eat Thanksgiving leftover turkey on December 8. Almost all cookbooks skip all those concerns and concepts. This book presents those concepts, and more, both in print and with directions to YouTube.com videos that give clarity that text can rarely provide.

The recipes start with the simplest and stay basic and detailed.

The Glossary provides not just definitions but what a cook should know about the term.

It concludes with a list of cookbooks and reference books to look to after completing this book and has a 80 + question quiz.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781663215895

Gary J. Boos

This book is intended for a man or woman who has little experience in using an oven or broiler, has never fried an egg, doesn’t know when or when not to proportion a recipe, rarely shops for fresh greens, has never flipped vegetables in a frying pan, usually does not use a claw grip when cutting, does not know what Mise en place means, what pots and pans to buy, does not know if butter has a higher smoke point than EVOO, can’t explain what “shortening” is and doesn’t know if you can eat Thanksgiving leftover turkey on December 8. Almost all cookbooks skip all those concerns and concepts. This book presents those concepts, and more, both in print and with directions to YouTube.com videos that give clarity that text can rarely provide. The recipes start with the simplest and stay basic and detailed. The Glossary provides not just definitions but what a cook should know about the term. It concludes with a list of cookbooks and reference books to look to after completing this book and has a 80 + question quiz.

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Copyright © 2021 Gary J. Boos.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written

permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed

since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do

not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6632-1588-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-1589-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020925829

iUniverse rev. date:  07/23/2021

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Prologue

Chapter 1Safety

Chapter 2Basic Utensils And Supplies

Chapter 3Shopping, Leftovers, And Storage

Chapter 4Pots, Pans, Skillets And Casseroles

Chapter 5Understanding Recipes

Chapter 6Methods Of Cooking And Tips

Chapter 7First Recipes

Chapter 8Beef

Chapter 9What To Do Next?

Appendix AUnderstanding The Refrigerator

Appendix BCooking Oils

Appendix CUnderstanding The Stove And Oven

Appendix DConversion Tables, Minimum Cooking Temperatures And Measurements

Appendix ELeftovers; Time In The Very Dangerous Zone

Appendix FGlossary Of Cooking Terms Part I

Appendix FGlossary Part II

Appendix GTerms You May Not Have Wanted To Understand

Appendix HBasic Techniques

Appendix IKnives And Their Use

Appendix JWood And Plastic Cutting Boards

Appendix KCooking Quiz

Appendix LCooking Quiz Answers

Appendix MCleanup After A Meal

Appendix NInappropriate Cookbooks And References

Appendix OEPA Disinfectants

INTRODUCTION

This book is intended for anyone who has little experience in frying eggs, buying fresh vegetables, proportioning recipes (and when you shouldn’t), shopping for beef to grill, or picking the correct cultivars of apples for an apple pie, has never flipped vegetables in a skillet, usually does not use a claw grip when cutting, does not know what Mise en place means, does not know if butter has a higher smoke point than canola oil, does not know if you can safely eat Thanksgiving turkey on December 8, and doesn’t have an ABC fire extinguisher within 20 feet of the stove top, but is willing to learn and apply safety rules for cooking.

This book will still have utility for cooks with 30 years of experience because there are some basic concepts they very likely never learned. The book contains information that all cooks should be taught, but often cookbooks neglect to present.

If you believe you do not need this book because you already "know how to cook", why don’t you take the quiz in Appendix K? You can score yourself and see how much you know about cooking. You score yourself. If you score 92% or higher perhaps you don’t need to read this book.

You can now skip the commentary below and go to Chapter 1 Safety.

I also assume the reader will have enough money (or friends he/she can borrow tools from) to acquire the needed kitchen utensils and access to a stove (at least two burners).

So, this book is intended for such man or woman so that they will be able to cook several basic meals (usually for no more than two people) with these presumptions:

• No one is there to help you.

• You will follow all the safety requirements and take efforts to perform the cooking safely.

• You can shop for both food and any needed kitchen utensils.

• Can clean the kitchen, operate the tools (knifes, microwave, oven) and take out the garbage.

• You have access to the Internet fast enough to view videos.

The results will be that the reader:

• Will have learned the fundamental safety, shopping, cleaning, cooking, and storage skills to use for many types of meals.

• Will learn some of the correct techniques for using the oven, refrigerator and broiler.

• Will prepare oatmeal, a hard boiled egg, soft boiled egg, spaghetti, and pasta with vegetables.

• Will learn cleanliness to such a degree that after cleanup it can withstand a critical review.

• You will have instilled with enough skill and confidence to continue learning by reading the recommendations listed in Chapter 9 What to do next?

Protocol: the expectation is that the reader needs to progress gradually from the easiest processes and recipes to the less easy. As many a football coach would say; first you walk, then you run. This mindset means that you should perform the recipes in the order presented. I hope that I have treated the reader with mercy. When you satisfactorily complete all the recipes, take the Quiz in Appendix K, score yourself (using the answers in Appendix L) then you graduate to the freedom of reading other, non-fundamental, cookbooks (suggestions in Chapter 9) and following other recipes.

Web sites are in blue except government web sites, which are in green. This book relies heavily on YouTube.com videos; search terms are in italics in quotes. Intended videos are bolded within quotes. The term matter is text, images or information. When I use the term web site I mean a non-YouTube.com web site.

In writing this book I do not imply that I present all the knowledge or even links to knowledge to make you safe while cooking. I do hope that my efforts improve your ability to cook safely and prepare healthy dishes and meals. Acting safely is a requirement for everyone who has any affect on buying, preparing or storing food. You must be alert and conscientious; knowledge alone is not sufficient. As the Desk Sergeant, in charge of the uniformed police officers, Phil Esterhaus would say at the end of the morning briefing in the TV series Hill Street Blues: Let’s be careful out there.

Copyright, All Rights reserved

PROLOGUE

Is there a book that explains what it takes to be a cook? Is there a book that makes safety the highest priority? What pots, pans, skillets and knives and supplies should a beginner buy? There are many cooking methods, which ones should a beginner start to learn first? What recipes should he/she start with? How do you read a recipe and avoid making simple mistakes? Are there beginner’s cookbooks with a lot of photos to explain how to prepare foods? What about videos? Before I decided to write this book, I read the reviews of many cookbooks, and reviewed dozens trying to find one book (or even a combination of two) that would answer those questions and concerns. I could not find one, or any combination of two that do. I decided to start to write one and thought I probably would find a book that made my effort folly. I have not found such any single book that presents the basics skills beginners are expected to acquire.

There are many cookbooks that have received a lot of praise. It took reading over fifty reviews before I concluded that many reviews are written by people who have not used the cookbook. They have browsed through the cookbook and not prepared even a single recipe or attempted to use any techniques in the text. There are also reviews that praise the book as good for someone else, but not the reviewer. Once those reviews are ignored often the remaining reviews have a sharply reduced level of praise.

A major part of this book are guides to Youtube.com videos. I am surprised that writers seem to ignore videos. Is there a concern of giving up market share? Is their mindset Read what I write – don’t look at any videos – except mine!

Isn’t the purpose of writing a cookbook to teach the reader how to cook either a variety of recipes or increase their cooking skills? Certainly public domain videos have valuable content and content that in many cases simply can’t be taught in text. One picture is worth a thousand words. Yet, authors have rarely linked their text to videos as I have done – or perhaps I’ve missed their books.

In selecting my videos I always had to review more than five videos, sometimes over a dozen before finding one good enough. A few times I reviewed over 100 and picked either one or none. I never found one on using an ABC fire extinguisher. I’ve found one using an A extinguisher but not an ABC.

Almost all the videos start with an ad that lasts 5 to 9 seconds and then you need to click Skip ads.

What is good enough for a video? I rejected those where the presenter talked about cooking but actually did little cooking; of if they did the camera had a poor viewing angle or too far away. As I viewed over 300 videos I tended to get impatient and started to reject those where:

• The presenter did not get to the subject within 40 seconds (50 max). Some videos would start with some music and graphics, then the presenter would greet the audience, then ask to subscribe and state their experience, then tell where the links are to the other recipes or videos, then tell us what the video will contain; if that took 50 seconds I gave up and went to another video. I didn’t want to waste your time either.

• Also some videos started with a 30 second ad that I could not Skip; I refuse to view them. I accepted being forced to view 15 second ads (for a good video) but not 30 seconds ads (and later likely being force to watch additional 30 second ads).

• The presenter talked about cooking, adding in hand gestures, but showed little or no cooking or even handling of utensils or equipment.

• Pointers about how to cook from someone who looks like they are no older than 25. I would listen for 30 to 50 seconds, but unless they showed some insight I would stop.

If the subject was on a countertop, say cutting an onion or sharpening knife, I want to see a view from above or 45 degrees, or above, and as close as reasonable. If the camera is eight feet away what is the benefit of having a video? Also, if the presenter, perhaps even a famous cook, is fast (as fast as he/she normally is) then that is too fast. I’m viewing this for the first time and the reader of this book is presumed to need a slow and careful presentation because he/she does not know the proper method and has not seen the proper method presented slowly and carefully before. Also, I want to know why this technique is being used.

I also reviewed web sites and few were as instructive as videos. Some web sites did have useful content (and videos), but usually they are so laden with advertisements that it was a visual struggle to read the cooking text/matter. Some had so much advertisement the screen would jerk once per second to display ads.

This book has an emphasis on safety. Safety First. If a basic or beginner cookbook presents a hundred cooking concepts but the cook gets food poisoning, or starts a fire in the kitchen, or cuts or burns themselves then what is the point?

As an aside, one should understand the powerful forces that we live with. In the cooking industry we have, as written by Kim Severson of the NY Times, …America’s Test Kitchen, the Boston-based television, radio and publishing empire….

COOK’S ILLUSTRATED is one of their creations and I am impressed by their work – (who wouldn’t be) which is why I refer to their work, and I hope, provided proper citations.

Most of the photos I took in my own kitchen, some are screen captures of US government web sites (public domain). A few are from Unsplash.com with no copyright violations – I think. A feature of cooking literature, or to use another word context of the profession, is copyright law. I won’t go into it in any detail here, but people have the power the exclusive right to copy, distribute, perform, and broadcast their own work. So no one dares publish an existing recipe for, say, chocolate chip cookies without getting permission from the original creator of the recipe. Getting that permission will be difficult to impossible (will they answer your emails or facebook post?) or they’ll ask for money. So to avoid those difficulties you’ll have to create a new, different, recipe for chocolate chip cookies. That is why a Google search for recipe for chocolate chip cookies has About 97,000,000 results.

To rephrase that: if the cook’s recipe isn’t different from all existing recipes they could get a call from a lawyer about violating copyright. To avoid that, the cook creates a new recipe, declaring that the reason for its creation is that its, somehow, in some way, better than the hundreds of others when the actual reason is to avoid being accused of copyright violations.

As I created the Glossary in Appendix F I added in content that I wanted to know about the term – not just its definition. I think I’m normal; if I think I should know that information then all cooks, novice or not, would want to know it.

As this book nears publication, I wonder if its usage of YouTube.com videos is too unusual to generate sales. Certainly I must have made oversights and errors in the book – it’s my first book. I’m bracing myself for critical reviews.

CHAPTER 1

SAFETY

As I have wanted mercy for my failings as a cook I must, as the author of this book, have mercy on my readers. We all have a lot to learn. The most important skill to learn is to protect ourselves: to be safe. To not accidently cut ourselves or get burned, or get food poisoning or set fire to the kitchen. We need to place safety first.

So we need to start with cleaning the kitchen. Sorry about that, but having a clean kitchen is necessary to prepare food safely, and a clean kitchen enables the work of cooking to be done without ruining the very food we are preparing. Also, it will feel nice to have a clean kitchen.

It may well be a lot of work; it depends on the condition of your kitchen. I think you should start by removing those things that don’t belong in the kitchen, like papers, vases, keys (will be quite dirty from all the handling) tools, toys, toiletries and cosmetics and shoes.

The best presentations on cleaning are on YouTube videos, and to a lesser degree, web sites. Admittedly, YouTube.com videos will normally start with ads you can Skip after 4 to 7 seconds. Web site (meaning non YouTube.com web sites) are typically loaded with ads that seriously distract from being able to read the content.

For YouTube.com the search term will be italics with quote marks. The intended video is in bold with quote marks. Of course you can use the full title of the video for the search term. The length of the video is listed in minutes and seconds along with the date, and name of the author will be in bold font to assure the reader they found the intended video.

Don’t use bleach for cleaning, but if you don’t believe that, for your first Youtube.com search use "dangers of chlorine bleach for cleaning find Using bleach can cause fatal lung problems – Olivia Kinsley reports" 2:17 KSY NEWS Sept 11, 2017. Bleach is extremely corrosive to metals, caustic to human tissues, is rapidly inactivated by organic debris, and fumes can be irritating. When it decomposes chlorine gas is released.

Cleaning supplies you have to get

Acquire a bucket (1-5 gallon, suggest 2 gal) clean rags, paper towels, a scrub brush, a scrubbing sponge, rubber gloves, and a bottle of some general purpose cleaner such as:

• Lysol Daily Cleanser {Contains hypochlorous acid: HOCL is the scientific formula for hypochlorous acid, a weak acid similar to that of a mild citrus juice}

• MICROBAN 24 Hour Multi-Purpose Cleaner uses quats but persistence is unproven.

• Pine-Sol

• Better Life Natural All-Purpose Cleaner, Safe Around Kids & Pets {Has no trouble tackling grease, dirt, and stains. by thespruce}

• Mr. Clean with Fabrese Meadows and Rain Multi-Surface Cleaner

• Seventh Generation Disinfection Multi-Surface Cleaner Lemongrass Citrus {rated as a Best budget all-purpose cleaner}. However I note that the only active ingredient is the natural oil thymol. Thymol will certainly tend to kill bacteria, but it should not be expected to remove dirt and grime

For more reviews I recommend the web site by thespruce and their "The 8 Best All Purpose Cleaners of 2020". You are going to need baking soda, it’s inexpensive.

Don’t use an old fashioned mop, which does a poor job of soaking up liquids, and also spreads them around (along with the bacteria, fungi, etc.).

From TastofHome.com web site: The biggest tip from our Test Kitchen is to always be sure to clean in an S-pattern, especially when you’re tackling windows. This will drag all the dust in grime to the bottom of the window where you can easily wipe it away. If you clean in circles, you’ll just be redistributing dust where you wiped clean!

Bleach

KEEP OUT OF REACH

OF CHILDREN

DANGER

Active Ingredients

Sodium Hypochlorite

8.25%

In all cases you need to:

Clean the ‘fridge vegetable drawer (likely the most heavily contaminated place in the ‘fridge).

Clean the kitchen: Youtube.com search term "how to clean the kitchen and find CLEAN WITH ME: Kitchen! (Express Clean)" 6:08 by Clean My Space July 21, 2018. For a more thorough cleaning (including drapes and oven) see "CHEAP CLEANING TIPS /How to deep clean your kitchen!" 5:56 by Do it on A Dime, April 16, 2016.

Clean the dishwasher filter: Youtube.com search term "clean the dishwasher filter and find How to Clean Your Dishwasher Filter" 2:10 July 21, 2015 by Reviewed.com Also "How to Clean Frigidaire Dishwasher Filter – Gallery" 2:08 2019 by Bootstrappin’.

Since the sink is a hot spot of bacteria see: search term "Clean Kitchen sink" and find CLEAN LIKE A PRO: Cleaning the Kitchen Sink! 6:51 by Clean My Space

You need to clean under the ‘fridge.

1. This is done by removing the grid (many, but not all ‘fridges have them) at the bottom. I recommend a face mask

2. Have some moist paper towels ready and perhaps a tool to reach in and grab or pull out objects, clumps of dirt or hair. Put in plastic bag, and that bag into garbage.

3. Once the clumps and objects have been removed, wipe the area with a moist paper towel to remove the great majority of dirt.

4. Put paper towels in plastic bag (about ½ or 1 gallon size) tie bag and put into garbage. Then use a vacuum cleaner to suck out the remaining dirt and debris.

5. To be even more thorough I suggest you spray under the ‘fridge with an all-purpose cleaner, wait five minutes and wipe.

6. During those five minutes wash the grid and dry it. Replace grid.

You should not have to clean under the ‘fridge again for more than one year.

Photos Below: They show two different size stove top fires. Top image shows a modest pan fire and a lady fireman about to smother it. A bigger grease fire in a pan may be too big to smother. A fire extinguisher is needed, but be sure to use is from at least six feet away or it could blow the grease out of the pan (use as short a first burst as you can).

11.jpg

How dirty is your kitchen, oven or fridge?

Below are several sites I suggest, with an attempt to match the video with the condition of your kitchen, oven or fridge.

• Cluttered but not unusually dirty (not grubby) kitchen then YouTube.com search term "man kitchen cleaning Clean My Space see CLEAN WITH ME: The Kitchen! 2019" 10:05 September 14, 2019 by Clean My Space. Also, here is a basic, and I think useful, video for the great majority of kitchens: go to duckduckgo.com (preferred over google.com) and use the search term "man cleaning kitchen realsimple. Near the top of the list should A Step-by-Step Plan to a Clean Kitchen – Real Simple. A web site (not YouTube) search term on google or Bing: route to a cleaner kitchen", find realsimple.com "The Best Route to a Cleaner Kitchen" 2:15 By Stephanie Sisco, Updated May 14, 2014. It has no verbal commentary but does have clear written instructions. This video is for kitchens that are not gross and do not have a grossly dirty refrigerator.

• For an extremely dirty oven: Youtube.com search term "intense kitchen cleaning Part 5" find EXTREMELY DIRTY OVEN CLEANING//Kitchen Organize Part 5 16:13, September 15, 2018 by OUR IRISH FAMILY. The presenter even took off the oven door! I advise against that – its too advanced. She includes the mesh/grid of the fan. Wear gloves! The introduction is too long, and you could start at 1:15

• Cleaning the refrigerator that is average dirty, with no spilled food or brown drippings or unknown encrusted formation.

o Use search term "clean the refrigerator Spring Cleaning and find Clean Like A Pro: The Fridge (Spring Cleaning)" 10:17 Apr 20, 2019, by Clean My Space.

o Use search term "clean the refrigerator" find 5 AMAZING Vinegar HACKS! 8:35 by Clean My Space Jun 9, 2018. She uses White Vinegar and Baking Soda. She talks about cleaning and deodorizing more than the kitchen. A little too wordy for me, but adds in a woman’s touch.

• For a grossly dirty fridge use search term "clean the refrigerator no chemicals and find how to clean a dirty refrigerator no chemicals" 5:52 by VERBAETUMtv Jan 19, 2017 it has little time lapse. He uses Baking Soda (a good choice in my opinion). His ‘fridge is so dirty he needs a screwdriver to scrape off some encrusted debris. He doesn’t talk about managing the contents of the ‘fridge (or remind us to turn the ‘fridge off before starting,) his video is only about cleaning. He didn’t mention disinfecting.

• Dirty appliances in general. Search term "Spring Clean Major appliances ClutterBug, find Spring Clean with Me How to Clean Major Appliances" 10:19 Mar 30, 2016 by ClutterBug

Recommended Youtube.com video: search term "The Best household Cleaning products QuadSquad" find "The Best Cleaning Products? We Put Them To The Test!" 7:17 early 2019 by QUADSQUAD. Their winner was 409, though they preferred Thieves Household Cleaner.

After you have cleaned the kitchen, disinfect the kitchen.

YouTube.com search term "sanitizing the kitchen and find Cleaning and Sanitizing – Foodservice" 10:50 by Iowa State University Human Sciences Extension and Outreach: Jan 12, 2018. You can stop at 5:00, because the remainder is for professional kitchens. Don’t use the same tools for both cleaning and disinfecting. Do not use towels to dry anything. When possible, air dry.

My recommendation for a disinfectant: 409. Its active chemicals are Quaternary ammonium salts, more commonly known as quats. Quats kill a wider range of bacteria that bleach does. Always look to be sure the chemicals are in contact for the entire Contact time.

409 Antibacterial All-Purpose Cleaner is recommended (by manufacturer) for Laminate, Linoleum, Pergo laminate, quartz (Silverstone) and glazed tile. However if you have granite, Limestone, marble, Sandstone, slate, or Travertine they recommend 409 Glass & Surface Cleaner (with no claim of killing bacteria or viruses).

Further, quats kills enveloped viruses such as the corona virus SARS-CoV-2 which causes the disease called Covid-19

409 kills corona viruses, but the Multi-Purpose version you should not use on granite countertops

Side note

If you want a lot of information about 409 or my justification for my recommendation use duckduckgo.com and search for "coastwidelabs.com Technical Chlorine Bleach Quat". In addition 409 is listed as EPA 5813-73 which is the same EPA number as Clorox Everest and Everest in on List N (see below). They may well have the same formulation. I contacted Clorox and they wrote: "the specific ingredients of our formula are proprietary. But, I can confirm the products use alternative brand names for the same product/ EPA Reg No."

You should find a link near the top: PDF Chlorine Bleach, Quat and Other Microorganisms 1203 This links to a three page PDF. Go to page 3 and read:

"4. Quaternary Ammonium Chlorides (Quats) Number One Choice of Hospitals…"

This site also writes up the dangers of bleach (section 1), which you should have already read.

With any chemical you need to leave it on the surface long enough for the chemicals to react to perform the intended action. Often people make the mistake of spraying, then wiping just a two or three seconds later. For disinfecting this is a major mistake and the kill rate won’t be high enough. The kill should be at least 99.9%, 99% is a poor percentage and 90% is of little benefit. A kill of 99.9% seems to be the target for antimicrobials and I’m sure the time the supplier recommends is intended to be long enough to achieve that rate.

More completely, though you don’t need to know this: Wikipedia.org:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternary_ammonium_cation#As_antimicrobials

409 (for disinfection) has several versions for different types of counters, granite, acrylic, fiberglass so use those if you can find them, otherwise you’ll have to use another disinfectant – don’t use 409 Multi-purpose on natural stone counters such as granite.

To disinfect you do need to clean first to obtain a surface with no visible dirt, grit or other contamination (we can’t see bacteria). Then you spray with 409, (not on natural stone countertops) wait a minimum of 30 seconds, preferably more than one minute, then you can wipe. If in doubt you didn’t disinfect some area, go back and spray again. Each product has its own required contact time.

For granite countertops do not use Lysol wipes. Unfortunately, it seems that a diluted isopropyl alcohol is appropriate to disinfect granite counters. See Youtube.com search term "disinfect granite counters" and find How to Clean Granite Countertops 3:50, by Granite and Marble Specialties, Oct 29, 2014. Reminder: alcohol is flammable.

For the official (long) list of disinfectants from the EPA see Appendix O EPA Disinfectants.

You also need to disinfect your hands (after they are washed). The common hand sanitizer with 60 to 70% ethyl alcohol will kill bacteria (isopropyl alcohol kills a wider range of bad bacteria), but within one minute its affect is gone. What is needed is persistence; the ability to kill bacteria at least several hours after the application. One chemical (safe for humans) that does it is BK or BZK and the product dab uses it. It sells for about $4 for each 1.5 oz pump bottle. You may have to go on-line to find a seller: https://dabprotects.com/

I do recommend that if you have cabinets built such that the tops are exposed, so that dust, grease, etc, can accumulate on top of them, these cabinets tops need to be cleaned to some degree –I’ve used a Swiffer. I’ve seen a gross case (grimace) in a rental where, on the cabinet tops, there was dried on grease (likely over several years of kitchen cooking) and it took me over 10 hours of hot water, rubbing and chemicals to clean. I can’t ask you do that level of effort but at least get a ladder, see what’s up there and wipe up all the loose dust and dirt. With the tops somewhat cleaned that lowers a reservoir of contamination that can blow off down into the kitchen. A thorough cleaning of those cabinet tops followed by disinfecting is desirable, that should be a lower priority over surfaces that will be used for food prep’ and for cooking use.

Unless you have a surface that is inherently antibacterial and antiviral (E.g. copper, brass, bronze or coated with a compound that continuously destroys bacteria and viruses) whatever you clean and disinfected will be contaminated if touched with any contaminated object, such as your hand, or food, or a dirty towel. Also air current will tend to bring in contamination.

To reduce recontamination of surfaces you’ve cleaned and disinfected you need to wash your hands frequently.

Food poisoning

If you need encouragement to clean the kitchen you should know that the CDC estimates that one of 6 American’s get sick from food poisoning each year. Most go unreported and most are not from eating at a restaurant. This leads to 128,000 hospitalizations and, approximately, 3,000 deaths each year. There are at least 25 pathogens that cause food poisoning, most are bacteria. One bacterium is a strain of E. coli. The bacteria release toxins and the toxins damage our organs. Symptoms typically develop three to four days after exposure and include these symptoms: diarrhea, bloody stools, abdominal pain, vomiting and sometimes fever. Note that your body may not be able to repair all the damage.

YouTube.com search term "food poisoning from bacteria" find "How to Prevent Food Poisoning Form Bacteria" 3:22 Nov 13, 2011, by ToHealth

Search term "Cross-Contamination" and find How Does Cross-Contamination Happen? 3:11 by Jul