Ping: Stike

you'd have to be a mad jabbing fool to contaminate the meat. is it technically cross contaminated when you jab the thermometer? yes.

how contaminated?

if you are injecting a salty brine, good luck to the bacteria. but yes, if you are injecting all over, you should be mindful of the idea that you could be introducing bacteria into the meat.

but i have to go back to being reasonable about this...
it was more likely this summer that you'd die of e. coli poisoning from vegetables than it was from meat.

i maintain that all of the FDA recommendations are correct, but i also maintain they are designed for utterly worst case scenarios.

here's a thought experiment. cook a roast to 150 internal. leave it on the counter four hours, untouched. why is it bad to eat, but the chocolate cake sitting next to it, made with eggs and milk and all, is ok to eat? both were left out at room temp fir fours hours, both were made from potentially bacteria contaminated products. both were cooked (except maybe the milk in the frosting..), etc. etc. the only reason no one worries about the cake, or the butter on the counter, is that no one has warned you against it with nearly the same hysteria.

yes, there are differences, and i'm over generalizing. but there are a lot of folks who can't explain why their steak is ok served rare, but their hamburger may not be (even though it is likely the burger is safe too, though LESS likely).

i'm no expert, but i find the most dire warnings tend to come from folks who say things like "when in doubt, throw it out". there shouldn't be doubt. 'doubt' means you are guessing, and guessing is bad.

it will. but if you aren't rinsing your meat, you should be. i know, i know, it doesn't get rid of it all.

like i said, a whole lot of things need to go wrong, though.

it's a good rule because it applies to all things and is easy to remember. there's no way they could issue a slide rule of bacterial rates of growth etc.

i think i first bonked heads over this issue on the forum when i made the comment that there was no way in hell bacteria knew it had been four hours. i mean... "honey, it's 80 degrees in the kitchen and the meat has been out on the counter". him: "how long?" her: "three hours and 50 minutes" him: "then it's still good". but in ten minutes you'd need to throw it out? let's use our heads, people.... hahaha

bacteria growth is exponential, and increases with temp. bacteria at 40 degrees replicate very slowly. at 135, they replicate like gangbusters. yet after four hours on the counter, a piece of meat at 40 degrees is just as unsafe as one at 135 degrees ? the answer is 'no', yet the rule says yes.

there's just no way to capture it all in something easy to remember, and so "four hours between 40 and 140...". exceptionally safe, but also overkill.

i made real egg nog last year. it was a giant punchbowl of flatulence. dairy, eggs, etc. all foaming up in your gut, and you'd drink, like, seven of them. it was (for a guy) awesome.

hahaha