I recently took my nice and her mother to dinner at the outback, and my little niece was quite enraged when her mother wouldn't let her order her steak medium rare. In fact, she was so angry, she looked like this.
I always order my meat medium rare, but I was wondering if this is the preferred doneness and if it is safe for a twelve year old such as my nice. Thank you for checking out my post. Good night everyone.
If the meat is good and has been properly handled then it should be healthy to eat it raw. At home, my 2 and 6 year old often eat their steaks blue (30 sec sear on each side, raw and cold in the middle). Some restaurants in the U.S. won't even cook them that way.
As far as I know, the best way to cook steak is medium rare. Some or probably most people will disagree for some reasons. However, cooking a steak anywhere past medium, like medium-well or (heaven forbid) well-done, is a practice that should be thoroughly and harshly condemned. Medium-rare steaks give you the maximum amount of tenderness and juiciness while ensuring that the center of the steak is actually warm.
I've always thought that "how a steak should be cooked" would be however the person paying for that steak asks for it. Who are you, I or anyone else to tell someone how they should have their meat cooked? Suggestions and conversation are all well and good, but if someone wants black'n'blue or well-done, that's the way they should get it. My personal caveat is that steaks ordered well-done can't be sent back if you don't like it. I'm a professional. I can make a well-done steak juicy and tender. It ain'te rocket surgery.
How many steak cooking threads has this site seen since it began?
There's this Australian film called "The Castle" that has one scene in it where the folks are having a nice grilled dinner. The "cook" comes to the table with this platter of dense black blobs, asks "Who was medium rare?" and then clunks one of the chunks onto the respondent's plate. I got a nice chuckle out of that scene. Should have remembered it for last month's challenge!
For me it has a lot to do with the kind of beef we are dealing with, if it is some variant of wagyu or whatever high fat beef and its not medium + it tastes overly greasy for me. On the other side grass and grain feed, its a sin taking em above rare and are at their best Pittsburgh style (no cheese for me though).
You're lucky you were at Outback, at high end steak houses they will refuse to cook it past medium and will shrug if you decide to leave in a huff. They care more about their steak than they do you.
In my opinion, a 12yr old is old enough to eat undercooked beef. My son is 3 and he eats steak medium although I haven't given him raw fish yet. But since this is not your daughter then there's nothing you can do, it's all up to the Mama so get over it.
I do think it's kind of a shame that the child's mother wouldn't let her order steak the way she wanted. 12 is plenty old to be making choices like this on their own. Assuming the mom was going to allow her to eat a well done piece of meat and it wasn't a budget issue, let the kid experiment! No statement on the "right" may to eat meat, just allow the child to figure what they like.
The inside of beef is sterile unless the animal was diseased or the meat was improperly handled. Long as the outside is past 165 there is no issue eating it medium or even rare. I am in the rare camp myself. Sear it on a hot pan or under the broiler to get a nice crust and get the middle to body temp... Give me a nice pile of bread or garlic toast to soak up the juices.
I remember my mother dicing beef for fondue bourguignonne, and she would put the cubes of raw beef in a dish. My sister and I would run in the kitchen, grab one cube and eat it, run some more, eat some more... until she had to stop us to make sure there would still be some beef left for the fondue dinner! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif
12 year old's do fall into the high risk category for cooking, due to there developing bodies and immune systems. Also pregnant women and elderly people fall into this same category and is highly recommended that these people have beef served 140 degrees F or above for safety concerns. Typically it has been agreed that meat at 120 degrees F maintained at that temp for 10 seconds should kill most if not all the bacteria (please keep in mind that this is for cooking beef ready to be served and not holding temps). However variations of bacteria can mutate their tolerance to heat. As far as USDA is concerned, it is NOT acceptable to serve children beef below 140 degrees F.
For me with this knowledge and cooking for many years, I always will let the person know the risks of what could happen and discuss the painful bacteria that could make them sick if eating beef under 140 degrees F for the high risk population category. But I will cook it to the temperature they prefer, after all they know there bodies better than I do.
I do NOT consider hamburger within these guidelines because, hamburger is made from the most outer part of the cow flesh which has a higher potential to be exposed to fecal matter at the slaughter house. Hamburger for high risk population should be cooked 160 degrees F or above for safety concerns for the high risk population category.
This information was ingrained into me with ServSafe, any certified food manager at any restaurant knows these practices and should let the customer know the risks.
In the chart below you removed them at the low end temp range and let them rest out towards the high end range to get that perfect doneness (and yes, 5 degrees makes a big difference).
SicariiX Thanks for sharing this. I remember the chart presented to us by our chef. This exactly look like this. I think, it can give everyone here a clearer picture on how steak should be cook.
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