We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
Is there anything so delicious as a juicy all-beef burger, cooked just like to your liking on a hot grill or in a cast-iron skillet? And if you like yours at a perfect medium-rare, with a warm, pink center, Food Republic spoke to Rachel Kirk, owner and recipe developer for Laughing Spatula; she gave us the skinny on the temperature you should aim for. “A medium-rare burger cooked to 135 degrees [Fahrenheit] is a low-risk treat,” she told us.
Kirk mentioned safety because technically, any temperature under 160 degrees Fahrenheit for ground beef counts as undercooked and, therefore, is a risk for foodborne illness. But while “poultry burgers must be cooked to 165 degrees Fahrenheit, no wiggle room there,” she explained, “for beef, you have a little more budge room as far as safety is concerned.”
Kirk advised, though, whenever you’re cooking ground meat, to use an electronic meat thermometer. “It is the best investment for a kitchen for accurate readings,” she said. “They’re only about $9 on Amazon!” Though our favorite, the ThermoPro, costs between $14 and $18.
How to safely source ground beef for medium-rare and why it mattersburgers
That aforementioned “budge room” exists “as long as the meat is super fresh,” according to Rachel Kirk. You won’t want to pick the ground beef that is nearing its expiration date at the supermarket for your medium-rare burgers. Instead, consider sourcing it from a high-quality butcher. They typically know the farm your beef comes from and have ensured that it has touched far fewer potentially contaminated surfaces as a result (especially compared to mass-produced beef), and they might even grind it as you wait and watch. Or you could limit potential contaminants even further by buying chunks of beef and grinding them yourself at home.
If you were wondering why rare steak is safe but rare ground beef is a recipe for disaster, the reason is in the processing and the points of contamination we’ve been mentioning. When cutting steaks, any potentially harmful bacteria stays on the outside and then gets cooked off with a nice, hard sear. However, when grinding beef, the outsides get mixed in with the insides, so potentially harmful bacteria can be found all throughout your burger patties. But when you source quality ground beef, it’s possible to enjoy your medium-rare burger, cooked at 135 degrees Fahrenheit, with less risk to your health.
