You should always cook ground beef thoroughly. When cooking hamburgers, you should never use raw meat or uncooked ground beef.
Cook hamburger patties until well done. Never let hamburgers sit out for more than two hours after cooking.
In this article, we will show you how to cook a burger safely by using the FDA’s holding time recommendations.
A burger should be cooked to 160 degrees F. A hamburger should be cooked over medium heat until done. To check if your burger is ready, use a meat thermometer.
If you see 160 degrees or higher, your burger is done. You may need to adjust the cooking time depending on the thickness of your burger.
There are many ways to cook burgers safely. You can use a grill or oven to cook them, but you should be careful not to overcook them.
A safe temperature for serving burgers is 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
To cook and hold burgers at this temperature, you need to use a cooking method called cook and hold.
This method cooks the burgers at a lower temperature than grilling, and then holds them at an even lower temperature until ready to eat.
You can also make your burgers more juicy by cooking them longer than recommended. A grilled burger should be cooked on a grill grate over direct heat.
Hamburger Internal Temp Recommendations
The safe internal temperature for cooked burgers is 160 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the temperature at which dangerous bacteria such as E.coli and Salmonella are killed off.
The recommended cooking time for ground beef is 3 minutes per pound.
A log reduction means that you need to cook food by 6.5 times more than normal to kill 99% of the harmful bacteria.
For example, if you want to reduce harmful bacteria by 99%, you should heat your food by 6.5 degrees Celsius or more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Each log reduction increases the number killed by a factor of ten. A single log reduction kills 90 percent of the bacteria.
Two log reductions kill 99 percent. Three log reductions kill 99.9 percent. Four log reductions kill 99.99 percent. Five log reductions kill 99.999 percent.
Six log reductions kill 99.9999 percent. A 6.5 log-reduction means 99.99999%. This is a huge reduction!
Why Is The Minimum Safe Temperature Of A Hamburger Higher Than A Steak’s?
A hamburger is safer than a whole piece of beef. Bacteria can be found on the surface of a hamburger, but not on the surface of a whole piece of beef (like a flank steak).
When this beef is ground, these surface bacteria are then introduced and integrated all around the ground beef mixture
When you cook meat on a hot surface, the surface bacteria are immediately destroyed. This is because the heat kills off the bacteria.
What Are The Risks With Ground Beef?
Ground beef is more likely to be contaminated than whole cuts because ground beef comes from multiple cows. Contaminated meat could affect the whole batch.
This process grinds up the meat, distributing the bacteria throughout the meat.
Grocery stores and restaurants become vulnerable to serving bad meat if not stored properly and used before it goes bad.
When cooked properly, hamburgers are safe to eat. But if you cook them improperly, they could be dangerous!
Cooking Ground Beef Safely
Consumers should cook ground beef to 165 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 seconds. This ensures that any harmful bacteria present in the meat will be killed off quickly.
The government agencies have decided to keep the recommendations for ground beef at 165 °F.
This is because they want to make sure that the consumer knows what the recommended temperature should be. Too much change can be confusing!
This is of course different from the 158 °F recommendation that they published in 2017.
For our purposes in the article, this discrepancy does not come into play because we are going to cook our hamburger to a much lower temperature anyway.
Grilling Hamburgers A Temperature Guide
Summertime means burgers on the grill. But if you’re cooking outdoors, you need to know how to cook them safely.
The Basics
Ground beef needs to be cooked to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. This ensures that the bacteria on the outside of the meat is killed off.
Grinding the meat makes it easier to distribute the bacteria throughout the product.
Searing the meat at a higher temperature kills off some bacteria, but not enough to make it safe to eat. Carryover cooking ensures that the rest of the bacteria is still alive.
You can make your own hamburgers if you want to. If you buy pre-packaged ground beef, you don’t know what cuts were used.
You also don’t know how long it was mixed together, or anything about the quality of the meat.
If you buy a chunk of good, well-mixed chuck, you can grind it yourself right before cooking it.
You can then control the ratio of different cuts you use, and you can even add spices to give your burgers a unique flavor.
Ground beef should be cooked to 165F. This is the ideal temperature for cooking ground beef.
To achieve this, place your meat in a pan or skillet over medium heat. Cook until browned on the bottom, then flip and continue cooking. Remove from heat when done.
How To Grill The Best Burgers
The best way to get a burger cooked properly is by using the two-stage cooking technique. The first stage involves placing the burgers on the cooler side of the grill.
Once the burgers reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, they should be moved to the hotter side of the grill.
This allows the burgers to finish cooking without burning or drying out.
When cooking hamburgers, you should always use a thermometer. You want to make sure the internal temp stays below 165 degrees F.
This helps prevent overcooking. Also, you need to be aware of the difference between direct and indirect heat. Direct heat means the flame is right next to the meat.
Indirect heat means the flame is far away from the meat. In order to get the same effect, you need to turn down the heat on the grill.
A thermometer is an essential tool to ensure that your burgers cook evenly.
If you’re cooking burgers, you should always use a thermometer to check the internal temperature of the burger.
When making burgers, it is important to take them off the grill before they reach the desired internal temperature.
To avoid overcooking, it is better to remove the burgers from the heat sooner than later.
Two-stage Grilling
When we cook the burgers at lower temperatures first, we carefully narrow the range of temperature gradients present in the patty.
Our gradients are smaller, and that means that the temperature change is slower when we eventually put the burger on the hot side for the sear.
Two-stage cooking allows you to cook burgers faster than direct heat. After 6 minutes, the internal temperature should reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
You should check the internal temperature every minute after that point.
When the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees Fahrenheit, you know that you’ve reached perfection.
Hamburgers should be cooked until they reach 140 degrees internally. Then they should be transferred to the oven or moved to the side of the barbecue grill.
You should turn your oven off before setting a timer for 12 minutes because you’ll end up overcooking your burgers.
Carryover cooking happens when heat transfers from one part of the meat to another.
This means that if you cook your meat over high heat, then lower the heat, some heat will transfer into other parts of the meat.
So by the time you get to the 12-minute mark, the rest of the meat will be too hot to eat.
Tips
You should cook your hamburgers to an external temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit (71 degrees Celsius) and then hold them above this temperature for 10 minutes.
This will ensure that the meat stays safely cooked inside the burger patties.
You should use an oven or grill to cook your burger. Preheat your oven to 250°F (120°C). Grill your burger if you’re using a grill.
Don’t forget to turn your burger over halfway through cooking.
Make sure you cook your burgers properly. Don’t forget to make a 1/2-inch dimple in the center of your burger.
This will help prevent any overcooking. Your burger should be cooked until done but still juicy inside.
A hamburger should be cooked on both sides until done. You should cook it for about 3 minutes per side.
A simple trick is to place a metal pan under the grill to catch any drippings.
The grill will be set up with a lower heat to control how fast the burgers cook, and a higher temperature to sear in the juices of the burgers.
For the first stage, put the burgers on an unheated side. Then, turn them over to the heated side to finish cooking.
Burgers should be cooked over indirect heat. You need to cook them for about 10 minutes per pound of meat. When you’re done cooking them, make sure they are well seared.
You should always freeze your meat to store it for more than a few days. This will prevent bacteria from growing on and inside it.
Why Are Temperatures Important?
Burger temperatures are very important. You don’t want your burgers to be too cold or too hot – and they must be safe to eat.
Ground beef should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit (about 60 degrees Celsius) before cooking.
Use a thermometer to check the temperature of your burgers.
Steak is always safe to eat when it is cooked to an internal temperature above 160 °F. Poultry is also safe to eat when it reaches 165 °F.
Medium-rare steak is still safe to eat even though it was cooked to an internal temperature below 160 °F.
This is because bacteria on a steak or piece of meat live on the surface but don’t migrate elsewhere or burrow inside the meat.
When a steak is seared (cooked) at high temperatures, all surface bacteria are killed. Medium rare inside is safe because bacteria aren’t present internally.
However, if a steak is cooked beyond medium rare, then all bacteria are dead.
To serve a menu item the US Department of Agriculture deems as high risk, a restaurateur must create and implement a HACCP plan to mitigate and control the risk to food safety.
A chef must first cooperate with their local health department and agree on a HACCP plan to reduce the risk of illness.
Only meat ground in-house may be cooked and served medium-rare. Pre-ground meat must be cooked to 160° F before serving.
Grind Your Own Beef
You can buy beef that was ground recently and still be safe. Chuck steak is a very lean cut of beef that is high in protein and low in fat.
Grinding the meat yourself allows you to control the amount of time the meat has been sitting on the shelf.
You should always use ground beef when cooking burgers. When grinding your own beef, you can cook them to a medium-rare internal temp of 130-135 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grinding your own meat at home is a good idea if you want to be sure your meat doesn’t contain any harmful bacteria.
You should grind your meat as soon as possible after buying it. This ensures that there aren’t any dangerous bacteria on the surface of your meat.
You would be able to grind this meat without any surface bacteria.
You could then cook your hamburgers to temperatures normally reserved for whole cuts of meat, like a medium-rare steak.
Freshness And Quality
You should buy your meat at the grocery store because it’s fresher than what you can make yourself.
Self-grinding meat will result in better quality and taste than what you’ll find at the grocery store.
Customizable Meat Blends
A butcher blends are usually ground beef, pork, chicken, lamb, veal, turkey, etc. But grinding your own meat gives you total control over the flavors in your burgers.
You can mix up the different cuts of meat to make new flavor combinations.
You can grind your own meat to make delicious burgers. Experimenting with different flavors is fun.
Cost Effective
Long and short of grinding at your house: it’ll save money. Pre-ground meats are marked up in price to pay for the labor and processing costs of grinding at home.
You can save some cash by grinding your own meat.
Food Safety For Hamburgers
Cold packages should be placed in the back of the refrigerator. Ground beef should be separated from cooked meats. Raw meat should be kept away from cooked meats.
Raw meats should be kept separate from other foods. Ground beef should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer until needed.
Refrigerate ground beef as soon as possible after purchase. Use within 1-2 days. Wrap it in heavy duty plastic wrap or aluminum foil.
Freeze ground beef if you’re not going to use it right away, and use it within 4 months.
Never leave ground beef or any other perishable food out at temperatures higher than 90° F (32° C) for more than two hours.
You can use a meat thermometer to check if your burger is done.
Ground beef should be cooked to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. If you grind your own beef, use the following temperature chart to ensure your burgers are done to your liking.
A medium well burger should be cooked until the middle is slightly pink. Medium rare burgers should be cooked until the center is pink.
Never partially grill meat or poultry, and then finish cooking later. Keep your cooked foods hot by keeping them away from direct heat sources.
You should also use a thermometer to ensure your food stays safe.
To prevent foodborne illness, use a clean dish for the cooked burgers.
Harmful bacteria present on raw meat and their juices may contaminate safely cooked food if you reuse the same dish for the raw burgers.
You can either use an empty dish for the cooked burgers or rinse the one that held the uncooked ones.
Hamburger meat is safe to eat even when leftovers are stored in the refrigerator. Leftover hamburgers can be kept in the freezer for up to four months.
About The Core Four Practices
There may be an invisible enemy who could make us sick.
We need to fight this enemy by washing our hands before we eat, cooking our food properly, and keeping our kitchens clean.
Here are some general tips for food safety following the core four practices.
Wash Hands And Surfaces Often
Bacteria can be spread throughout kitchens and get onto hands, cut boards, utensils and countertops.
To fight bacteria, wash your hands with warm water for at least 20 seconds. After washing your hands, use antibacterial soap.
Wash your cutting boards, dishes and utensils with hot soapy water before cooking. Use paper towels to clean up your kitchen surfaces.
Don’t forget to wash your cloth towels in the hot cycle of the washer.
Fruits and veggies should be washed before eating them. Rinse fresh fruit and vegetables under running tap water.
Scrub firm-skinned fruits and vegetables under running tap water or scrub with a vegetable brush while rinsing with running tap water.
Don’t Cross Contaminate
Cross-contamination is how dangerous bacteria can be spread. Properly handle raw meats, poultry, seafood and egg products to avoid spreading them to other foods.
There are some simple steps we all can take to reduce the risk of contamination when preparing burgers.
We should keep our ground beef cool and within the temperature safety zone.
We should use separate prep areas and utensils for raw meat and produce, and wash our hands before and after handling meat.
Use two different cutting boards for raw meats, poultry, seafood and vegetables. Don’t put cooked foods on plates that previously contained raw meat, poultry, fish or eggs.
Cleaning your kitchen is important because it keeps germs away from your food. Don’t put cooked food next to raw food or their juices. Separate them.
Cook To The Safe Internal Temperature
Food is safely cooked when it is heated to a high enough internal temperature that kills harmful bacteria.
Use a food thermometer to measure the internal temperature. The best way to fight bad bacteria is to use a food thermometer.
Don’t rely on color alone to determine if your burger is done. A food thermometer is an easy way to ensure safety.
Refrigerate Promptly
Keep your fridge at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below. This helps prevent the growth of bacteria that cause food poisoning.
Don’t over-fill your fridge. Cold air must circulate around food to keep it safe.
Never thaw food at room temp. Food must be kept safe temp during thawing. Three safe ways to thaw: fridge, cold water, and microwave. Cook food immediately after thawing.
Always put your leftovers in the fridge.
Final Thoughts
Cooking a hamburger that is safe requires some basic knowledge. You need to know what temperature you should cook them at.
You also need to know how long to cook them for. In order to do this, you need to read up on the risks associated with cooking hamburgers.
There are many different ways to cook hamburgers safely. We hope this guide helps!