The classic hamburger consists of meat patties placed in a bun or bread roll. The meat is accompanied by various toppings such as pickles, onions, lettuce, and sauces such as mayonnaise, ketchup, and salsa to make the burger moist and add flavor. Melted cheese is also often added, thus forming a cheeseburger. There are several hamburger varieties, such as the jalapeño beef burger, crispy chicken burger, steakhouse burger, etc.
When it comes to beef burgers, such as the steakhouse burger, you can do your patty differently, with a fully cooked or a medium-rare patty. Choosing a well-done or medium-rare patty is the first step toward deciding which burger you want.
In this article, let’s discuss what is a medium-rare burger and how it is different from a well-done one. Once you know the difference, you can easily choose the right burger that pleases your taste buds.
What is a Medium-Rare Burger?
A medium-rare patty has a juicy red center even after the burger is done cooking. The exterior of the burger has a nice char to it, while the interior remains juicy. However, having a medium-rare burger can sometimes can people nervous as the inside of the patty is still red and not completely cooked.
What is a Well Done Burger?
A well-done burger is when the burger patty is cooked all the way through. The beef is brown all the way, and there are no juices left. However, some people believe grilling the patty all the way through doesn’t make a juicy burger, while others believe that cooking the patty thoroughly can create a delicious, juicy burger.
Is it Safe to Eat a Medium-Rare Burger?
Some dieticians say eating a medium-rare steak is not a concern, but eating medium-rare ground beef might be. If there are any germs on the meat’s surface, they can get absorbed in the entire meat mixture once it’s ground. So once the burger patties are formed, germs can be present in them too. So a safe way to eat ground beef is to wait until it’s fully cooked all the way through, and this rule does not just apply to ground beef. It also applies to other types of ground meat such as groundfish, chicken, or lamb.
Other experts say that even though the patty is pink on the inside, it’s not ‘raw.’ Sure, it’s not fully cooked either, but it’s also not fully raw. They believe it’s safe to eat if the proper precautionary steps have been taken to prepare the meat. Also, the semi-cooked nature brings out the juiciness of the beef patty.
The Temperature of a Medium Rare Burger
When measuring a medium-rare burger, the internal temperature should be 130 degrees. The burger should be nicely seared on the outside while being pinkish on the inside. When cooking your burger to this temperature, it’s best to take proper precautions to ensure your meat is germ-free.
How to Cook a Medium Rare Burger
Now the question arises about how to cook your burger patties to medium rare and ensure they are safe to eat. There are two methods you can do this.
Pasteurize the Burgers
Whether you bought ground beef from the store or pre-made patties, simply grilling them at medium rare and having them is out of the question. This is because the patties are packed with bacteria from the butcher’s work area. One way to kill the bacteria is to pasteurize the beef patty. To pasteurize the patty, start by grilling it to 138 degrees. Once grilled, take the patties and wrap them in foil paper. Place the foil-wrapped patties in the oven for 12 minutes at 140 degrees.
This pasteurizing process will ensure the patties are safe to eat. They might be done slightly more than the medium-rare threshold, but they will still taste great. The burgers will taste a lot better than the well-done burgers.
Grind Your Burgers at Home
Usually, ground beef is made up of several beef cuts. These cuts include rib eye, tail, sirloin, or brisket. When the beef is being cut at the butcher’s shop, it’s usually combined with many bacteria. Grinding the beef can mean the bacteria ends up in the entire ground beef mixture rather than simply on the surface. To avoid this, another technique is to grind your beef at home.
You can buy the cuts of beef you want. The recommended cuts for an excellent beef patty are either sirloin or brisket. You can also add other cuts to this as long as they are whole-muscle cuts.
To get the beef ready for grinding, all you have to do is boil water in a large pot. Once the water comes to a rolling boil, dunk the steaks in water for one minute. This will kill all the bacteria that might be living on the surface of the meat. Once this is done, you can simply roll your meat through a meat grinder and turn it into ground beef. While grilling the patties, bring them to a temperature of 130 degrees. Then take them off the grill and let them rest. Like the rest, the temperature will rise to 135 degrees. Also, wash your hands thoroughly through this entire process.
Our Final Thoughts
The above-listed details clear out what is a medium-rare burger. As you can tell, preparing a medium-well burger has a lot to do with temperature. A meat thermometer is also useful for this. It will let you know the exact temperature your meat has reached and when is the right time to finish grilling. The more precise you are, the better burgers you can make. Making a great medium-rare burger greatly requires precision. You get the timing right; you get the perfect pink and juicy burger. And yes, when making a medium-rare burger, precaution is necessary. Taking the steps listed above will ensure the meat is safe to eat.
