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--- recipes:notes:cooking_temperatures [2015/02/22 16:47] – created wikiadmin
+++ recipes:notes:cooking_temperatures [2016/11/16 09:06] (current) – jmarcos
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+====== Cooking Temperatures ======
+====== Chicken, Turkey, Duck ======
+| **Temperature**| **USDA Safe**| **Practical**|
+| Whole|  165°  |  165°  |
+| Breast|  165°  |  165°  |
+| Thigh|  165°  |  165°-175°  |
+| Ground|  165°  |  170°-175°  |
+====== Beef, Veal & Lamb ======
+{{ :recipes:notes:cook-a-steak-blue-rare-medium-welldone.jpg?direct&300|}}
+When determining the temperature to cook your meat to, there's a crucial distinction to be made between whole muscle cuts and ground meat. The food scientist Harold McGee explains:
+"... meats inevitably harbor bacteria, and it takes temperatures of 160 degrees Fahrenheit or higher to guarantee the rapid destruction of the bacteria that can cause human disease — temperatures at which meat is well-done and has lost much of its moisture. So is eating juicy, pink-red meat risky? Not if the cut is an intact piece of healthy muscle tissue, a steak or chop, and its surface has been thoroughly cooked: bacteria are on the meat surfaces, not inside. "
+In other words, with whole cuts of meat it is the external temp, not the internal temp, that must exceed 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Normal cooking methods — sauteing, grilling, roasting, braising, etc. — raise surface temperatures far above 160 degrees Fahrenheit. (To get a sense of this, consider that meat only begins to brown at 230 degrees Fahrenheit.) People very rarely get sick from rare or medium-rare meat. Overwhelmingly, people get sick from the way meat is handled in the home: from cross-contamination, lack of cleanliness and holding meat at dangerous temps. Internal temperature should be the least of your worries. [[http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/articles/meat-and-poultry-temperature-guide.html?oc=linkback|more]]
+| **Temperature**| **USDA Safe**| **Practical**| **Finger Test**|
+| Rare|  |  125°  | Fore|
+| Medium Rare|  |  130°-135°  | Middle|
+| Medium|  |  135°-140°  | Fourth |
+| Medium Well|  145°  |  140°-150°  |  |
+| Well|  |  155°+  | Pinky|
+| Ground|  160°  |  160°  |
+===== Finger test =====
+Lightly touch thumb to finger on same hand.  Feel the fleshy base of the thumb with the other hand.  That's the same feel the meat will have.\\
+{{:recipes:notes:finger_raw.jpg?direct&100|}}{{:recipes:notes:finger_rare.jpg?direct&100|}}{{:recipes:notes:finger_mediumrare.jpg?direct&100|}}
+{{:recipes:notes:finger_medium.jpg?direct&100|}}{{:recipes:notes:finger_well.jpg?direct&100|}}
+====== Pork ======
+| **Temperature**| **USDA Safe**| **Practical**|
+| Medium Rare|  145°  |  145°  |
+| Medium|  |  150°  |
+| Well|  |  160°  |
+| Ground|  |  160°  |
+====== Seafood ======
+Seafood cooks quickly and is usually thin.  This means that it can be tough to measure with a thermometer, so use the visual indications.
+| **Type**| **USDA Safe**| **Cook Until**|
+| Fin Fish|  145°  |  Flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork.|
+| Shrimp, Lobster & Crab|  |  Flesh is pearly and opaque.|
+| Clams, Oysters & Mussels|  |  Shells open during cooking.|
+| Scallops|  |  Flesh is milky white or opaque and firm.|
+{{tag>RecipeNotes Misc}}
+/* Recipe Note Tags
+BuyingGuides
+Misc
+Techniques
+Tips
+Wine
+*/
+~~DISCUSSION~~