Cooking Temperatures

Do You Know When Your Meat Is Medium-Rare?

It is essential you know the internal temperatures of the foods you are cooking. Trying to cook based on times given in a recipe is a mistake that I make all the time. There are so many variables that go into cooking times that it is impossible to know when a piece of meat is ready to come off the saute pan, grill or out of the oven.

The biggest mistake most home cooks make is not to account for resting time. Heck, most of us don't even realize they need to let meat or poultry rest for a period of time so the juices redistribute into the meat. Professional chefs have told me they know when something is done just by touching it, but they still carry and rely on their instant thermometers.

Cooking anything to perfection requires knowing when it reaches the ideal internal temperature before and after resting. These temperature are a good guide but if you find your prefer your medium-rare steak a little more done, adjust the temps to suit your personal tastes.

Note, these are not USDA Recommendations. The USDA temperatures are conservatively 10º - 15º higher because of food safy but not many professional chefs are cooking your medium-rare steak to 150º F. You would send it back in an instant.

Meat Temperatures & Doneness Chart

The "Remove" temperature on the left is the target temperature to remove from heat source.

The "Ideal" temperature on the right is the ideal internal temperature after resting.

These temperatures are all Fahrenheit.

	Rare		Medium-Rare		Medium		Medium-Well
	Remove	Ideal	Remove	Ideal	Remove	Ideal	Remove	Ideal
Beef Steaks	125º	130º	130º	135º	140º	145º	155º	160º
Beef Roasts	120º	130º	125º	130º	135º	145º	150º	160º
Lamb Chop	125º	130º	130º	135º	140º	145º	155º	160º
Lamb Roast	120º	130º	125º	130º	135º	145º	150º	160º
Pork Chops	-	-	-	-	140º	145º	155º	160º
Pork Roasts	-	-	-	-	135º	145º	150º	160º
Veal Chops	-	-	130º	135º	140º	145º	155º	160º
Veal Roasts	-	-	125º	130º	135º	145º	150º	160º

 

	Resting Time	Remove	Ideal Internal Temperature
Whole Chicken - Roasted	5 minutes	160º - 165º	165º - 170º
Whole Turkey - Roasted*	20 - 60 minutes	150º - 170º	165º - 170º

* A big turkey can take 60 minutes of resting with a temperature shift of 20º or more.

 

 

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