Eating rare or raw meat (or fish)

JASOH1 said:
It must date back to an era where there were a multitude of parasites and bacteria prevalent. If a person ate meat rare it would make them sick, therefore, they ate everything well-done.

My parents, being from Texas, loved rare beef and it was abundant and fresh in that state, so I was spared that problem growing up. My dad used to say, "Slap it on the butt and send it through the fire" about his steaks. However, I remember when it was cleared that pork tenderloin could be cooked medium with a hint of pink inside, they were not on board.
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You are all very brave, eating medium rare burgers. The only time I would do this is when I have ground the beef myself. E-coli and salmonella can exist on the surface of the meat, so not a problem for steak as the bacteria are killed by searing - rare/blue steak is perfectly safe. When the raw steak is ground up for burgers, the bacteria can exist all the way through the burger. Even your own USDA recommends cooking burgers to an internal temperature of 160 deg F. Stay safe out there!
https://www.nap.edu/resource/13069/Ground-Beef-Fact-Sheet.pdf
 
Yorky said:
I must be strange. Whereas I prefer my beef steak rare or medium-rare, I prefer my burgers medium-well.
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Not strange. I am of the same mind. Mostly it's because of a bloody bun. I prefer my burgers medium well overall. But, I only eat beef I have ground myself, and it must be filet mignon.
 
All this talk of burgers has got me wanting one. Will have a look at the grill tomorrow. There's a giant bad boy grill sitting on the deck with a cover over it. It's been like that for about 4 years. We've been too busy to mess with it.

This seems controversial here, but I like smash burgers, well done.
 
epicuric said:
You are all very brave, eating medium rare burgers. The only time I would do this is when I have ground the beef myself. E-coli and salmonella can exist on the surface of the meat, so not a problem for steak as the bacteria are killed by searing - rare/blue steak is perfectly safe. When the raw steak is ground up for burgers, the bacteria can exist all the way through the burger. Even your own USDA recommends cooking burgers to an internal temperature of 160 deg F. Stay safe out there!
https://www.nap.edu/resource/13069/Ground-Beef-Fact-Sheet.pdf
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My father and oldest brother ate raw beef sandwiches using store packaged ground beef. Just salt, pepper and a thick slice of onion.
 
CraigC said:
My father and oldest brother ate raw beef sandwiches using store packaged ground beef. Just salt, pepper and a thick slice of onion.
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I know I've mentioned it before, but my grandad used to sample the raw ground pork when we'd make sausage after butchering a hog. He and my dad would mix up a huge plastic-lined box filled with fresh ground pork, with all the seasonings in it, he'd get a hunk, eat it, and say, no it needs this or no it needs that, until it was just right.

I do always notice when we're in the UK, a lot of the places that serve beef burgers will have a little notice along the bottom of the menu about eating undercooked beef burgers, so therefore, the beef burgers are cooked all the way through to a safe internal temperature, blah, blah, blah.

We have a similar notice here, but it's more in the way of a disclaimer - "The USDA has determined that eating undercooked burgers may pose a serious health risk; patrons to do at their own risk."

They also tell us not to eat raw cookie dough, cake batter, or consume undercooked eggs, but that ain't happening, either. :laugh:
 
murphyscreek said:
Beef or steak tartare is a classic dish. It's not my cup of tea, but has been around for a long time.
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I watched a cooking show not long ago where they were serving very thin slices round steak (I think), sliced very thinly, with a little onion relish, on a little cracker, as an appetizer.
 
Tartare usually has a little more in it than just salt and pepper.

We eat beef carpaccio made a couple of ways now and again. We will be having some or some tartare with the beef craig ground recently soon, with some of my microgreens.

I have to have my burger with only a bit of pink now,used to eat it med rare, but something changed in my taste.

We do the same/feel the same about eating out, which is why we mostly ate out for breakfast or lunch, getting dinner out at just a few places.
 
I love steak tartare....its one of my favourite dishes and I try to have it at least once per holiday when we're in France. I prefer it with not too many capers, and its especially nice when it comes with a raw egg yolk on top. Carpaccio is also nice - but I find that it can be a bit tasteless sometimes.

For steak it has to be rare or even blue (depending the cut), but when it comes to burgers I'm pretty relaxed....I aim for cooked-through-but-not-dry, but I'll pretty much eat them however they turn out. To be honest though when I'm just cooking for the two of us I'm probably a bit more relaxed than I should be, but neither of us has become ill from eating slightly under-done burgers.
 
CraigC said:
My father and oldest brother ate raw beef sandwiches using store packaged ground beef. Just salt, pepper and a thick slice of onion.
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Growing up, that was a staple in our house - ground beef, salt, pepper and onion on sandwich bread or Saltines. I still find myself craving those sandwiches every now and then although I do hold back and haven't had one in many years. I have been known to still steal a slice of raw steak while it's still in its marinade ...
 
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