I understand that, however, the USDA considers 160def F. to be safe. I rarely cook any meat besides poultry any higher unless it is asked for that way.... In fact, I usually pull meats from the heat at a temp closer to 150deg F. and allow carrying over cooking to bring it up the additional 10deg while the meat rest. I've never been sick from the food I've prepared. Of course if the meat is older it would likely benefit from further cooking.
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How do you like your steak?
- Thread starter BreakGuy
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I understand that, however, the USDA considers 160def F. to be safe. I rarely cook any meat besides poultry any higher unless it is asked for that way.... In fact, I usually pull meats from the heat at a temp closer to 150deg F. and allow carrying over cooking to bring it up the additional 10deg while the meat rest. I've never been sick from the food I've prepared. Of course if the meat is older it would likely benefit from further cooking.
You can cook meat to whatever temperature you like... you're not going to sue yourself if you get sick.
A restaurant is going to play it safe. 160F is medium, and they're going to take the temperature a bit further just to make sure. 170F is well done - so medium/well or well is what they'll serve.
You said that you like Medium Rare. If a restaurant serves you a 145F burger and you get sick, they're breaking USDA recommendations and they're going to look really weak in court!
Yeah, etiquette. What a time waster!
^ It's amusing to see someone actually defend their lack of etiquette. As though it is so difficult and exhausting that they would take an actual vacation from it. These people are likely just as terrible offline.
There are plenty of places here that will serve a rare burger.
If I die, at least I'll have died eating something tasty
If I die, at least I'll have died eating something tasty
Sorry, I was just speaking for the "home cook". I understand the restaurant liability issue fully. Moreover, I do not like my steak medium rare--i like a well rested medium (that was the doneness of the steak I posted). Medium rare is bit cold for me.
There are plenty of places here that will serve a rare burger.
If I die, at least I'll have died eating something tasty
I'll never eat an undercooked (less than 165°F) burger. When I was working in commercial refrigeration, I learned too much about Escherichia coli, where it comes from, and how it spreads.
The E. coli bacterium is not native to the flesh of the animal; it comes from the digestive tract, which means it must necessarily come into contact with a cut of meat to contaminate it. This is why steaks are virtually never tainted - once a large piece of meat is sliced, that cut (which has never come into contact with the contents of the stomach or intestines) is clean.
Ground beef, on the other hand, is a smorgasbord of cattle; a single pound of ground beef has been shown to come from as many as 40 head of cattle, and almost of all of it is trimmings - the pieces that have come into contact with nearly everything in the processing plant. The likelihood of contamination is astronomically greater than it is for a steak.
A medium-well burger tastes fine to me. We're not talking about a bug that gives you a tummyache; the O157:H7 strain is deadly. It's not worth the risk, IMO.
Good information. I think it all depends on where you source your ground meat from. But you are right, no need to chance it with ground beef if you are unsure/uneasy about it. As long as it's not cooked to death and dried out it should still taste plenty good.
There's no way to farm cattle to be free of the disease, and no 100% reliable method of preventing contamination during processing. The key is to minimize the number of pieces that come into contact with the digestive tract. The most reliable way to do this is to select a cut of meat (a single piece) and grind it yourself.
Not all burgers are made from ground beef. Ground chuck is often used. Or even a mix of specific cuts. And some restaurants do even grind the meat themselves.
That's beef. It comes from the same animal, you know.
Yes, but chuck is a specific cut of beef. Not a mishmash like "ground beef".
It's a mishmash of chuck from different animals, not really any different from ground beef in terms of whether it's contaminated. It's still overexposed in the processing area.
Because it's relatively new and drug resistant; not because it's any more deadly.
actually the stx2 horizontal gene transfer makes it interesting; not the drug resistance
Tomorrow, I understand that disease is a constant concern/threat. What I meant by "source" is what you're saying just not in so many words.
I usually use 80/20 ground beef when I grill to help keep burgers from drying out, however, I cook them well--hence the need for the extra fat to keep them moist.
When I cook them on the stove I use ground sirloin and cook them medium well-well done. 160-165
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That depend on where it has been ground up. If it was processed in the meat factory, then yeah, there is no way I'd trust it. But many local butchers will still handle the grinding themselves. Especially if you ask them. And as I said, some restaurants grind their own meat.
There is certainly a taste difference between a rare burger and a well done burger, but the larger difference is in texture. Obviously it is less important to some people, but I like the softness and buttery mouthfeel of a less cooked burger. Either way, most of the time when I order a rare burger I anticipate it to come out medium, which is just how lots of places cook them. A thoroughly well done burger has to be made with a very high fat content beef or it becomes disgustingly dry and develops a nasty off taste, at least in my experience.
You must not be one of those people if you had 45 minutes to waste here earlier.
Your smugness is palpable through the internet. That's another word that doesn't get enough play—palpable.
I think you missed the point, it's about outside surface area of meat that could contain bacteria. Ground chuck (beef), chicken, pork or garbage or whatever. When meat in ground up the surface area that could have had bacteria on it, is now in the middle of the meat. On a steak, if there was bacteria on the outside, it is now at least seared and killed. So uncooked in the middle is okay because it's not surface area that had/has bacteria on it.
Depends what's in it. When I make my own burgers, I toss in an egg yolk which stops it starting to go dry.
I dislike it being dried out too, but having a burger fully cooked doesn't mean it is dried out. If it dries out, it is overcooked.
Some finely chopped onions helps too, maybe with some worcestershire sauce and some garlic. Then into a very hot, dry pan.