John, those temperatures sound pretty good to me.

With the exception of sushi, I personally don't prefer bloody raw meat. I cannot stand the cold raw beef in the center when you ask for a rare steak.

I am spoiled. I fortunately have the benefit of digital PID temperature controls for both my sous vide cooker and smoker. I can cook any food at as low temperature as I like, down to within one degree of accuracy.

Scallops 115F, Lobsters 135F, Salmon 110F ------ Eggs, any consistence I desire.

Cold smoke salmon 45F, Cold smoke cheese, 50F -------.

Corned beef 130F, BBQ pork ribs 140F ------

I have 2 lbs of top round London Boil in the sous vide cooker now for dinner tonight when I get home. 128F, 48 hours, no attention required, no overcooking is going to happen. The London Boil will come out medium rare and tender like Porter House steak, there is no need to thin slice it across grain. I paid $2.45 a pound for the London Boil.

dcarch

I would have to agree with your wife. Except for the beef and lamb. We like both rare so I will take it out of the oven or off the grill between 112ðF and 120ðF

Pork should be at least 145ð to 150ðF. Your chicken/poultry is way undercooked for my taste and for what is recommended.

I don't like overcooked fish, but I do not want my cooked fish "translucent" either.

I guess you and your wife are going to have to compromise. which shouldn't be difficult unless you are cooking a whole chicken or a roast. For steaks, chops and fish, you can start cooking her portion first. I do that when we are having dinner with our neighbours. Clif prefers his steaks cooked a little more than ours. It is easy to accommodate.

~Ann

Why not eat straight from the fridge, LOL!

Meat - I typically like mine cooked closer to medium rare. Somewhere in the low-mid 130's.

Poultry - I aim for 160 regardless of light or dark meat, although dark is fine cooked a bit higher. I would not be comfortable eating 140 deg chicken unless it was cooked sous vide for recommended pasteurization times. I have not tried this yet, and I'm skeptical that I'll like it when I do.

Pork - I can't get used to it "undercooked" - 145 is my target, still plenty juicy. I do like sous vide for thicker chops.

For some fish such as salmon and tuna I like a temperature gradient ranging from a good sear outside to a band of flaky underneath the surface to a rare or raw center. It seems that many fans of sous vide like salmon cooked at low temperature for a creamy consistency throughout. On the other hand many do not seem to like it and just by reading the description I imagine I'd be one of them. But I will try it. I prefer most white fish just flaking throughout.

I guess in general I like my food overcooked (by your standards) like your wife does. I agree with Ann, in most cases it should be feasible to accommodate everyone's tastes.

This post was edited by foodonastump on Tue, Jul 23, 13 at 10:45

I've been buggering meat lately. Way overcooked. It is the grill. So i pull everything off early and it seems to rest to correct temp for us. Meat rare.
Chicken and pork are slow smoked...a bit over done by standards but are very tender and moist by braising in their juices in low cast iron uncovered. Or a foil 'platter'.
Lamb we like pink. We agree so that bit is good. We just keep messing up the steaks.
Some time ago we did not agree at all on temp and hot pepper heat.
His meat came off early and i stocked the fridge with hot sauces.

Don't worry, John; my spouse and I are totally with you on this. In fact, it took me almost a decade to wean him off the whole "cook it till it's dead" philosophy.

Having grown up in Hong Kong, they bought their meat from outdoor stalls where flies covered the carcasses, so there was good reason they cooked everything well-done!

He likes his beef a little more rare than I do, but we are both in the "medium-rare at most" camp. We pull out our prime rib roast at about 123 degrees; I don't think our temp gauge is that accurate so it took a few experiments before we got the hang of it.

Pork is so lean these days it should never be more than medium; when we are dining out we specify medium-rare on it.

Lamb is always medium-rare or even rare if US. Out here we get a lot of inexpensive Aussie lamb which we find much better done medium, however - IOW, still some rosy pink in the middle.

Overcooking fish is a crime in CA - or it should be! These days virtually every good restaurant around here agrees with you and me - the fish should be still slightly translucent inside, especially the lean white fishes like swordfish and halibut.

Not to mention salmon....just the thought of overcooking those gorgeous Copper River salmon makes me cringe! I hope you can get them easier than we can. Once they became so suddenly popular, we lost all our retail sources and now only rarely can find them in restaurants for maybe two weeks out of the year.

One note: my elderly MIL lives with us. Altho she tolerates medium-rare, she is still in the "it should look dead" mentality. I often make filet mignon as it's easy and fast. I've taken to getting those less-desirable end cuts, the triangular pieces. When I sear-roast one of those along with the filet medallions, the flatter end of the filet triangle comes out medium, which is perfect for her.

Otherwise, I think you're just going to have to double-time the cooking - turning or taking your portions off the heat earlier than your spouse's portions. I do that especially with burgers, as MIL really isn't fond of the rare/medium-rare we do our bison/g. beef mix. It is a little bit of hassle, but worth it since we don't have to endure overcooked meat.

Yet another reason why I like to eat out, LOL....