" Rare " ? or " Well Done " ?

When we order steak in a fashionable restaurant it is customary for the waiter to ask us how we would like it cooked.  Tastes vary, but often the choice is between " Rare " and " Well Done " !
When cut with a knife a " rare " steak certainly shows " pink " in the middle and often the juices show traces of blood.   Many discerning diners claim that " rare " is the only way to enjoy the taste that comes with a good steak cooked to perfection.

Until now, the fast food industry offering " burgers " has not offered a choice.  The meat pattie served up in most " Burger joints " is flipped on a hot plate and thoroughly cooked before it is slapped onto a sliced bun.  Often the only choice is if the salad ingredients on offer will have raw onion added.

Now it seems that some of these " Burger Joints " have gone upmarket. In the search for patronage they are offering burgers cooked to the customers specifications and this means lightly cooking the pattie somewhere between 60 and 55 c - and this has brought the Department of Health into the picture.

The Health Department insists that burger patties must be cooked at 71 C.   There must be no sign of " pink " showing in the middle and the juices must run clear.   Many gourmet cooks protest and claim that this makes the meat " dry and tasteless ".   They cite the custom of steak served " rare " to support their contention.

Food technicians step into that gap and point to the different procedures involved.   It seems that cooking a burger pattie at between 60 and 55 c is quite safe, provided that the meat has been minced at the establishment where it will be cooked and that it is cooked and served on the same day as it was minced.

It is the mincing that poses a risk if the product is exposed to the air and stored briefly at the wrong temperature - and most mince used in burgers is prepared by either a local butcher or an external food preparation company, and may be months old and held frozen until it is actually used.   If this is served under cooked it can pose a serious health hazard.

There is also the practice of some meat outlets disposing of older meat treated with suphur dioxide to give it a fresh appearance by putting it through the mincer.  The vast majority of burger outlets source their meat patties externally and few actually prepare the product on their own premises.  There are stringent laws in place that apply to food safety - and fines of $ 1450 a day can be imposed for a serious breach.

This seems to be a " Buyer Beware " scenario for both diners and those offering upmarket burgers cooked to the customers specification.    A burger joint offering what is obviously frozen meat patties claimed to be cooked to customer satisfaction should be avoided, but a genuine provider of such fare will need to demonstrate to health official that the correct procedure has been followed and that the food is safe.