Burger question from a Canadian

[andy.wpg]

I have noticed while watching Food Network and from personal experience in restaurants in the U.S. that a medium rare burger is a thing.
I was always taught that a burger needed to be well cooked (180-185F) because all the bacteria had been ground into the center of the meat. I would say that most people I talk to up here feel the same way.
Isn't a medium rare burger just playing Russian Roulette?
Could someone please explain this to me?

Cool story, my brother-in-law took his (then girlfriend) wife down to Minneapolis for a trip. She had never been to the U.S. before. They went into a burger joint and Stephanie was asked: "How do you want that done?". She paused, and replied: "Cooked?".
When she looked at Randy for an explanation, he told her that, in the U.S., a lot of people liked their burgers medium rare. She replied: "Do they die?". That kinda explains the feeling on burgers that are anything other than well done.

[RonB]

Yes - you are taking a chance. If I want a burger less than well done, I grind my own meat after dunking it in boiling water and moving it around to hopefully get boiling water in all the nooks and crannies.

[MBMorgan]

If I were cooking conventional burgers using store bought ground beef, I'd cook them to 165 IT as a safeguard against pathogens. These days however, I usually grind my own beef and I cook them SV for around 4 hours at 135 deg. F. (57 C) then season and sear before serving. Finally ... a way to eat a safe medium to medium rare burger!

[RonB]

MBMorgan - there is a restaurant near me that has a sign that they irradiate their ground beef so you can order it cooked any way you want it. I have not eaten there though.

[Huskee]

160 is actually USDA's recommended ground beef temp, but remember that's the "instant kill" zone. I like to go 153-155, which, if it's at that temp long enough, is plenty pasteurized.

If you cook an 80/20 burger FAST, up to no higher than 160, it's still plenty juicy. The trouble I think folks run into is using too lean a burger or using reverse sear on thinner burgers and therefore cooking them too long drying them out, making them think 160 is too high. My personal thoughts.

[FireMan]

What Huskee said!

[EdF]

And if you SV it long enough, you can go lower: temp x time.

[Spinaker]

I go to a local Burger joint in my home town called, Lions Tap. This place has the best burgers in the world. They always ask, "Pink in the center, okay?" I always say "yes", because that is how they are best. However, making burgers at home, I always cook past 150 F.

Lion's Tap has been doing this for 40 years now. So I trust them. But, there is always a risk.

[Willy]

RonB I am tickled to see irradiated beef being "proudly" advertised. I wish more places would carry irradiated meats.

[Willy]

Three links to AR articles on hamburgers and safety:

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/hambu...e_burgers.html
http://amazingribs.com/recipes/hambu...hamburger.html
http://amazingribs.com/recipes/hambu...e_burgers.html

I seriously consider Meathead 's "Steakhouse Steakburger" recipe the best single recipe on AR.

Edit add-on: 180°F is WAY too high. See Huskee 's comment above.

[Ernest]

Cook em Sous Vide at 135 then Slap em on a HOT grill or pan.

[JCBBQ]

I grind my own meat. I cook to 130 then sear. I either sous vide or follow Meathead's steak burger recipe -low and slow and then sear. I'm alive and well and have never gotten sick from a burger.

[andy.wpg]

You know, the 165 temp mentioned several times here was bugging me. I know that is pasteurization temp, but I also know that I had seen 180-185 somewhere.

I checked the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) website, and they say 165 for ground beef too!

Then I remembered! On packages of ground beef from Safeway (don't buy it very often - but occasionally) the label says to cook the meat to 185. Perhaps they are just trying to avoid lawsuits?

Thanks everyone!

[ribeyeguy]

It's an interesting topic. Has anyone here gotten sick from a rare to medium rare burger? I'm 57 and have eaten them that way my entire life, mainly from store bought ground beef, and I've never suffered any ill effects. Has anyone?

[JCBBQ]

Nope

[AdamJG]

I figure just like driving to work is a risk each day, a bit of pink in my burger is a minor risk...like George Carlin said, our immune systen needs germs to practice on!!

[EdF]

Nope. 65 here. But I ate plenty of dirt as a kid to build up my gut biome! Not that I knew what I was doing - I just liked the flavor!

[Mr. Bones]

Way back when, usedta be a generous pinch of raw burger with salt n pepper was a cook's treat, when I was young, (an cookin'!).
I do like my burgers more medium~, when cooked...
That being said, I have never died in a fashion that was food-related.
Hopin' to continue that trend; I've eliminated the other variables from my life that caused previous deaths...
Well, th' major one, at least.

[EdF]

Somehow I sense an ex-wife story behind that!

[Mr. Bones]

Nope. No women involved. EdF
I steer way tf clear of 'them', much as is possible fer any one human to do;
I done figgered out they cause Death.
Decades ago.
It didn't take me no C. Everett Koop t' figger that one out...
Not lol, btw.

[andy.wpg]

It's an interesting topic. Has anyone here gotten sick from a rare to medium rare burger? I'm 57 and have eaten them that way my entire life, mainly from store bought ground beef, and I've never suffered any ill effects. Has anyone?

I read the horror stories in "Fast Food Nation" and they scared the bejeebers out of me! Not sure if he was cherry-picking stories tho....

[bardsleyque]

I've been eating rare to med rare my adult life(passed 60) no ill effects (yet)!

[Corvus]

I too worried until I followed Meathead's recipe. I grind my own and carefully follow the food safety directions, I slow cook at 230 up to 120 internal, then sear on red hot grill grates until 140-145 internal Here's yesterday's cook;

[dustbuster]

Those look delicious!