Meat temperatures

Meat temperatures

The internal temperatures to perfectly cook every meat

The technique

Insert a meat thermometer into the center of the thickest part, away from bone and fat. Give it a few seconds to settle before you read the number. Take the meat off the heat only once its center reaches the safe minimum, never before: 145 °F (63 °C) for a whole cut of beef, veal, lamb, or pork, 160 °F (71 °C) for ground meat, 165 °F (74 °C) for poultry. Then let a whole cut rest at least 3 minutes before carving: the temperature keeps climbing while it rests.

When to use

Use the thermometer on every cut, thick or thin: roasts, leg of lamb, poultry, burgers, and steaks alike. Touch, color, and cooking time can't tell you the internal temperature. Only a thermometer measures it.

Common mistakes

• Inserting the thermometer into bone or fat: the reading will be off.
• Pulling the meat before its minimum and counting on the rest to get there: the minimum is read before it leaves the heat.
• Carving right after cooking: the temperature keeps rising and the juices run out.
• Trusting color: it varies with the cut and the age of the meat, and ground meat can turn brown before it is cooked through.
• Forgetting to remove the probe before putting the meat in a very hot oven.

The guidelines

Safety first. USDA FSIS, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, sets these safe minimum internal temperatures, to reach before you take the meat off the heat:

• Whole cuts of beef, pork, veal, and lamb (steaks, chops, roasts): 145 °F (63 °C), then rest at least 3 minutes.
• Ground meat (burgers, meatballs): 160 °F (71 °C).
• Poultry, whole, in pieces, or ground: 165 °F (74 °C).

Pork cooked to 145 °F may still be slightly pink in the center. Cooking it further is a matter of taste. Staying below means stepping outside the USDA guidelines.

How chefs cook it

Warning: blue, rare, medium rare, and medium stay below the 145 °F (63 °C) minimum recommended by USDA FSIS. These steaks carry a risk of bacteria. They are not recommended for pregnant women, young children, older adults, or immunocompromised people.

This only applies to whole cuts of beef and lamb: steaks, roasts, racks. Here are the final internal temperatures, measured after resting, according to ThermoWorks, a thermometer maker, for beef steaks. Whole cuts of lamb follow the same marks in the kitchen.

• Blue: below 120 °F (49 °C), just past raw, by cooks' convention
• Rare: 120 to 129 °F (49 to 54 °C)
• Medium rare: 130 to 134 °F (54 to 57 °C)
• Medium: 135 to 144 °F (57 to 62 °C)
• Medium well: 145 to 154 °F (63 to 67 °C)
• Well done: 155 °F (68 °C) and up

Why chefs do it: on a whole cut, bacteria sit mostly on the surface. A hard sear on every side greatly reduces the risk, without removing it. That is why ground meat, tenderized or needled meat, and poultry are never served rare: the surface bacteria end up inside.

The chefs' move, for these cuts only: take the meat off the heat 5 to 7 °F (3 to 4 °C) before your target doneness. Its temperature keeps rising while it rests.

Sources

• USDA FSIS, Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart: 145 °F (63 °C) and a 3-minute rest for whole cuts, 160 °F (71 °C) for ground meat, 165 °F (74 °C) for poultry, measured before removing from the heat.
• ThermoWorks, Steak Temperatures: final steak temperatures after resting, from rare to well done, and how the temperature rises during that rest.