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Possible Duplicate:
What is the internal temperature a steak should be cooked to for Rare/Medium Rare/Medium/Well?

I know that whenever you look at cookbooks they give you the recommended cooking temperatures for doneness in meats based on the USDA food safety guidelines. However, I been to certain restaurants where food has been cooked just slightly below those temperatures...essentially more on the rare side.

So what is the real safe temperatures for the meats that we eat? I.e. not thinking about any legal implications, what temperature would chefs cook their meat to? I'm trying to discern the difference, if any, between gastronomical and governmental standards.

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milesmeow
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  • See also [this question on beef](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/9/what-is-the-internal-temperature-a-steak-should-be-cooked-to-for-rare-medium-rar). I assume you are not looking for alternate advice on chicken. – justkt Jan 16 '12 at 13:12
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    Going to be charitable and call this a duplicate... please don't directly ask us to provide food safety guidelines that directly contradict federal regulations. The "real" safe temperature is exactly what the USDA says it is. Restaurants are only allowed to cook to a lower temperature when *specifically requested* by the customer - at that point the customer assumes any liability for the consequences. – Aaronut Jan 16 '12 at 20:38
  • @Aaronut. I don't think it's a duplicate. I'm asking about meat in general and not just beef. For some reason, most people assume meat means beef because all the answers have been about beef. :) I've seen on TV and also have read in cookbooks mentions of not having to cook to USDA standards. I want to the community to provide some answers and hopefully once answered it would serve as documentation that slightly lower temperatures are ok. I've been to Chinese restaurants where the chef likes to cook the chicken so that it is ever so slightly pink. I want to know if this is ok. – milesmeow Jan 16 '12 at 21:32
  • The colour has nothing to do with the internal temperature. Aside from that, the question is not appropriate. If you don't want to follow the USDA guidelines in your own home, that's fine, you're welcome to take the risk, plenty of people do and they're still alive. We are **not** going to officially sanction it by providing an alternative set of "real" temperatures that could potentially cause some future visitor to get food poisoning. It's getting really tiresome seeing one question after another asking for permission to ignore the guidelines; either follow them or don't. – Aaronut Jan 17 '12 at 02:57
  • The *one* exception to this rule is sous-vide cooking which is distinguished by *very* precise control over the temperature and a much longer cooking time than pan-frying/oven-baking/etc. If you're interested in temperatures for sous-vide, go ahead and ask that, but be aware that those temperatures are **not** appropriate for any other cooking method. – Aaronut Jan 17 '12 at 02:59
  • @Aaronut you have a good point about the color. I guess I was thinking that most cookbooks say to cook chicken so that juices run clear and pink chicken meat has nothing to do with the juices. I see your point about potentially having people get sick from not cooking foods to the USDA guidelines. However, I don't see why this question is not following this stackexchange's guidelines. I think that the question is a legitimate question about cooking. You're closing this question based on a 'duplicate', which I presented ample reason why it isn't. Are you also saying you are closing for safety? – milesmeow Jan 17 '12 at 03:26
  • People ask questions about food safety and I don't see why this is any different. – milesmeow Jan 17 '12 at 03:27
  • @Aaronut You have a great post here http://meta.cooking.stackexchange.com/q/266/2125 about these types of questions. I want to still plea my case and say that your comment is exactly why this question should be reopened. – milesmeow Jan 17 '12 at 03:33
  • You might be interested in a question I asked some time ago, [Is "until juices run clear" a valid test for poultry doneness? Why or why not?](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/11526) Aside from that: take your pick of close reasons, Not Constructive would also apply since this question is flouting the facts and soliciting opinions on a number of different issues/foods. Sorry, but this isn't getting reopened, no way, no how. Do you walk into a doctor's office and ask for faith healing or homeopathic formulas? Let's try to maintain some level of professionalism here. – Aaronut Jan 17 '12 at 03:41
  • Your "juices run clear" question is a very good one. Your accepted answer is something along the lines of the type of answer that I would want for my question. Your specific question is about chicken, my question is trying to include other meats. Anyhow, I will ask my question another way and see how it goes. – milesmeow Jan 18 '12 at 21:18

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This is purely personal preference, this is no magic number

Some people like it very blue, some like it grey. Some like it cooked it a very hot pan, some people like it simmered or steamed. Cook what you like

If you are going to have raw, or rare meat cooked at below your local governments recommendations, you should know the quality of the meat, or be involved in it's preparation (Zuckerberg style)

Very rare steak

This is my wife's ideal steak. From the farm, grass feed young beef. Sirloin cooked plain in a hot cast iron pan for 30 seconds a side

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  • That steak looks delicious! (I think I'm gonna cook one up for dinner) Regarding my question, I guess I should update it to indicate that I'm looking for the real safe temperature for meats. – milesmeow Jan 16 '12 at 19:10
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    @milesmeow The question is unanswerable then. The USDA temperatures are calculated so that there is maximally 1 in X chance of getting food poisoning in the wost case. You can say that you feel safe with a much smaller X, but this would be a personal preference different from the legal definition of "safe". – rumtscho Jan 16 '12 at 19:29