Meat cooking temperature

What it's for

Internal temperature is the most reliable way to cook meat to the right point and avoid risks. A probe thermometer beats any «by eye» guess.

Safety

Poultry and ground meat must always be well done (74°C / 71°C). For beef and lamb you can choose the doneness. Always let meat rest after taking it off the heat.

Temperature is the only method that doesn't lie

Cooking time depends on thickness, shape, starting temperature and the oven, which is hardly ever calibrated the way its dial says: two «one hour» roasts can come out one raw and one dry. The core temperature, on the other hand, is a fact: at that value the meat is done, full stop. A probe thermometer costing a few euros is the tool that improves home cooking most, far more than a new pan.

The probe goes into the thickest part, without touching bone or fat, which heat differently from meat. On a whole chicken the right spot is the inner part of the thigh.

The two values that aren't a matter of opinion

For poultry (74 °C) and for minced meat (71 °C) there's no such thing as rare, and the reason is mechanical: in a whole cut the bacteria are on the surface, which the heat reaches immediately, while in mince the surface has ended up inside, and pork and chicken can carry dangerous ones. A pink burger isn't a matter of taste, it's a risk, and it's why restaurants make you sign for it.

For beef, lamb and pork in whole cuts the choice is free: 52-55 °C rare, 58-60 medium, 68-71 well done. Whole pork, these days, can be kept pink at 63 °C: the old 75 °C rule came from trichinella, which in controlled supply chains is no longer an issue.

The rest, and the five degrees you gain for free

Off the heat, meat keeps cooking: the heat stored on the outside moves towards the centre and the core temperature rises another 3-5 °C on a steak, up to 7-8 on a large roast. That's why you take it off before the value you want, not once you've reached it.

Resting does something else too: during cooking the juices move towards the centre, and five to ten minutes of waiting redistributes them. Cutting straight away means watching them end up on the board instead of staying in the meat.

Nearby tools

For the oven, when a recipe is in another scale or in gas marks, there is Oven temperatures, and for the air fryer Air fryer. For quantities based on the number of people Servings per person, and for how long leftovers keep in the fridge Food storage times.