If you already ate it, it's too late to ask the question. Nonetheless, it looks superb!

Yum!

I just looked so raw. I think the thermometer was correct. I have two so I can always double check temps. We very rarely have steak so wasn't sure. What temp should I have cooked it too?

You obviously have a malfunctioning thermometer!

It may not be the thermometer.

It is almost impossible to measure temperature accurately if the meat is thin.

Very difficult to know if the tip is at the exact center.

dcarch

I agree that it looks like no steak cooked to 180F, I've ever seen. I'd bet on an improperly placed thermometer or a malfunctioning one also.

I like steak rare, so seldom cook it above 125F. The temps I've always worked with have been:

Rare: 120F

Medium Rare : 125F

Medium: 135F

Medium Well: 150F

Well: Over 150F

Those are the temperatures at which the meat is removed from the heat, before the resting period, during which time the temperature will continue to rise. Why would it be unsafe to eat, unless it smelled bad or tasted odd? The USDA says beef is safe when cooked to 145F, at which I would consider a good steak horribly overcooked, but they don't like my soft egg yolks at breakfast either.

Annie

A solid piece of meat cooked very rare, like a steak, doesn't present the same health problems as ground meat. Ground meat has all its parts exposed to dangerous bacteria like E. coli; not so with a solid piece of meat. The interior, where it's rare, has not been exposed to the bacteria.

"---A solid piece of meat cooked very rare, like a steak, doesn't present the same health problems as ground meat. ---"

Not completely true.

About 10% of the steak you buy are mechanically tenderized. Meaning they have been Jaccarded deeply by sharp blades. The law does not require the suppliers to label the meat that has been processed this way.

dcarch

You just have to know your butcher or meat supplier. The steaks I buy are not mechanically tenderized.

Debrak, If the thermometer was correct at 180°F that steak would be shoe leather.

dcarch, I had no idea about that practice. And since it's been many years since I bought industrial meat, my purchases probably predate that practice. Now I buy only locally raised, pasture raised and pasture finished meat from a closed herd.

Ok, I just poured a cup of hot water from our instant hot water heater which is set at 160 degrees. Put in both thermometers. One is reading 155, the other 159. So this really confuses me.

I don't want to buy another thermometer unless I have to. I used only one thermometer with the meat but tried it in two different spots. It was 180 in both spots.

When stuff like this happens it really confuses me about cooking and then I just want to make frozen chicken fingers : (

No one I know cooks with thermometers except all of you wonderful people on this forum. So I can't ask a friend to come over and help me sort this out.

Actually, it can be simple to check your thermometers:

1. in a small pot of cold water, add lots of ice and stir very well. Then measure with your thermometers. They should read very close to 32F.

2. Boil a small pot of water, while it is still boiling, measure with your thermometers. They should read very close to 212F.

Otherwise, throw them out. If they are digital, you may need to replace the batteries.

dcarch

Debra - As you can see in your picture, there are varying degrees of doneness from the edge to the center. So getting the center temperature is dependent on knowing just where the thermometer tip is registering, and getting that part to the right spot. For something thinner like a burger or steak, this is far more foolproof if you poke in deeply from the side rather than from the top.

I cook a lot, from scratch, and I don't own a single thermometer for cooking--no oven, no candy, no meat, no nuthin'. Sometimes, one would be handy, but not enough to make me spring for it.

In this house, we would eat the steak in a heartbeat. As we tell servers in steak house, I want to hear "MOO" in the kitchen then bring it out to me. And steak Tartar (cannibal steak) is a favorite for us too.

These are just basic thermometers and only are marked from 130 to 190.

That steak looks delicious. I don't use a thermometer when I cook steak - I grill or broil it for a couple of minutes each side, then I test it for firmness by pressing down with my tongs. If it's still squishy, it's extra rare, soft but not squishy is rare, a little firmer is medium, and very firm is well done. It takes some practice though to tell the difference.

It sounds like you have dial thermometers. I've had a few of those. Maybe the ones I got were duds, but they never stayed accurate. I use a digital thermometer made by Taylor that works well.

I personally find that a touch too rare, although I have one son who prefers it that way. I grill ribeye or striploin steak about once a week and I've never used a thermometer to gauge doneness...only do it by feel/how much "spring" is in the meat.

Like Pkramer, I have no hesitation at all in eating rare beef and sometimes eat it raw. I raise my own, though, as so I'm intimately familiar with the living conditions, diet, handling and packaging of that beef. I even eat my ground beef rare, because I know exactly where it came from and where it's been. If I had to eat commercial beef I'd just stop eating beef altogether.

However, I threw in the USDA recommendations because that is important to some people, especially those with small children, elderly friends or relatives or those with compromised immune systems.

I do have thermometers, Elery loves gadgets so we have dial thermometers and digital thermometers and who knows what else. I don't use any of them on steak, though. I get the grill or a cast iron pan screaming hot, toss the meat on long enough to sear, flip it over and take it off. Done, just the way I like it. My girls used to call it "warm raw".

Annie