Cooking Meat

You hear it all the time, “Cook your meat all the way through.”  I never knew what that meant, until one day I did a little research and found out.  So to save you a lot of time and trouble, I am posting my findings for you all in one place.First things first, you will need to make sure you have a good meat thermometer.  It doesn’t have to be expensive, but make sure it is of good quality.

For each of these types of meat, you will test the thickest part of the meat to get the temperature reading you need.  Put the thermometer into the thickest part and let go of the thermometer.  You do not want it adding your body heat to the temperature.  Once the temperature gauge quits moving, this is the temperature of your cooked meat.

For Beef:

Roasts:  140′ F for medium rare and 155′ F for medium

Hamburgers:  160′ F

Other cuts of beef:  145′ F for medium-rare / 160′ F for medium / 170′ F for well

For medium-rare, you will have a very pink center and be slightly brown toward the exterior.

For medium, you will have a light pink center and the exterior will be brown

For well, you will see no more pink and the juices will run clear

Pork:

Roasts: 155′ F for medium and 165′ F for well

Ground pork:  170′ F for well – you will see no pink in the center

Fully Cooked Ham should be 135′F when heated through

Other cuts of Pork:  160′ F for medium – it will have a slightly pink center and 170′ F for well and it will have no pink in the center

Veal:

Roasts:  155′ F for medium

Other cuts of Veal:  160′ F for medium – it will have a slight pink center

Lamb:

Roasts:  140′ F for medium rare

Other cuts of Lamb:  145′ F for medium rare with a pink center and 160′ F for medium and this will have a light pink center.

Tip:  Something to remember is that roasts and hams will continue to cook after they are removed from the heat source.  So there might be a 5′ difference in the temperatures.