Cooking temps.

[Oskar314]

I have a real green crew and I need a chart of what temp a steak should be when it is finished ( Rare, Meduim Rare, Meduim, Meduim Well,and Well Done). They are having a tough time and I am searching for a chart of donness temps.
Is their a web site to go to or a chart I can purchase any help will be appreciated.

[bouland]

I think you'll need to develop your own. The internal temperature your staff pulls the meat from the heat will depend on cooking method, resting time, and cut being cooked. Check the USDA Food Code, section 3.4 for safety information when cooking steaks. The recommended temperatures are probably lower than you may think.

[culinarian247]

Beef:


Rare-130*
Medium-140*-145*
Well Done-160*

And you can't rely solely on the color to determine doneness, either. That requires cutting the meat. A no-no. And remember that carry-over cooking will take it 5* higher, unless it's a steamship (that can go as high as 25* carry-over). Depending on the cut's thickness it can go from 5*-25* carry-over.

[paisan]

Another thing you have to take into account besides carry-over cooking is wether your food may be under a heat lamp for an amount of time. One place that I worked at, we had two kitchens, one being strictly grill....and that was the last of the food to be taken out, as the back kitchen put out 3 times as much food with not much space to put it. Our grill cook would use temps even lower than those of which culinarian had listed to account for the steaks cooking even more under the lamp. He made darn good money and for good reason.....no steaks ever came back. Also remember, you can always throw a steak back on the grill, but you cant UNcook it.... a little under is better than a little over. And one other thing I noticed.....I worked at a place for one season that had a very poorly lit dining room.....when I first started I had a few sent back saying they were overdone....that they couldnt see any pink, but under the lights in the kitchen they were obviously done the way they asked. You would think they would be able to tell by tasting, but whatever, everyone is an expert. So from then on everything went out a little more rare then they had asked for and I never saw a steak a second time.

Ciao....paisan

[kuan]

What temp. is seared? No kidding...

Kuan

[Nick]

Rare = 118-120. I've also found this works in a restaurant when asked how I want my steak done. Good restaurant.

[George Albiez]

Any text on professional cooking will help. I recommend "Professional Cooking" by Wayne Gisslen, or "The New Professional Chef", the text used by the CUlinary Institute of America.

You may also want to try the USDA website.

Finally, have you tried the "touch test"? It's unscientific, but in the crook of your hand between your thumb and forefinger, you can demonstrate the doneness of a steak by the resilience of rare (hand relaxed) towell done (thumb and forefinger extended from each other as far as possible). Good luck.