What’s the STW opinion on eating rare minced meet, or more precisely rare burgers?

My friend who’s a doctor specialising in immunology and infectious diseases thinks its a massive no go.

My friend who is not a doctor who made some burgers out of supermarket minced meet and thought it was sensible to serve them ‘very rare’ thinks its ok.

GBK who served me a burger which I’d consider medium-rare last night and didn’t even ask ‘how I wanted my meet cooked’ must have thought this was ok.

I ate all the burgers offered without a fuss and didn’t feel at all bad for it. I’m interested to hear all you lots opinion on this one…

Meet?

Sounds a bit yucky to me

Steak tartare is raw mince meat though, right? And that’s pretty tasty…

I never liked it, but when we were kids, our mums would give us a pinch or two from the mixing bowl when making homemade burgers. My brothers, cousins, friends, and I are all still alive.

Unless ‘meet’ is an altogether more toxic substance than ‘meat’. 😉

So here’s your answer:

Cultural differences in raw meat consumption are thought to be a cause of regional variation in the prevalence of toxoplasma infection (ranging from around 55% in France down to 10% in the United Kingdom).

Cat AIDS

I can’t believe I spelt meat wrong every time! I’m sure I made a conscious effort to spell it right at least once!

I’d agree with your doctor friend because on a nice piece of meat like steak or a joint, any nasty stuff like E-coli and various other nasties are on the outside, which gets thoroughly cooked, the meat inside that is rare is well protected from all this, so safe.

If you then take that meat and mince it up, any contamination on the outside is now spread all the way through it, and left to fester and grow on the inside for days until used – that’s why it is imperative to cook it all the way through.

The reason why steak Tatar is still low(er) risk and OK to eat is because it’s cut and minced only a few minutes before serving, and does not get that nice chance for everything to fester away inside out of sight at ambient temperatures as tends to happen with mince.

Obviously, if you are cutting and mincing meat at home for rare burgers, then you are at much reduced risk (well, unless you are using unpasteurised eggs as a binding agent…)

What Ninfan said. If it’s prepared straight from fresh, it’s fine.

Have you tried it Enduro?

It’s red meat so whatever the case it probably will cause cancer 😛

Now a rare pork sausage will definitely cause cancer 😉 (but you’ll die from food poisoning prior to that. Less likely to from eating rare beef, minced or otherwise).

ninfan is technically correct but I’ve eaten plenty of rare burgers and I’m not dead.

Where does one purchase pasteurised eggs in the UK?

trick question, you can’t. Not in usable quantities anyway.

ninfan’s right. It’s all to do with the nasties being scorched on the outside as opposed to growing on the inside.

When I moved to Asia I was always surprised to be asked how I’d like my burger cooked. I have mine med-well and it’s delicious. Still alive too.

Where does one purchase pasteurised eggs in the UK?

Go to any large egg producer and watch the conveyor belt, every egg passed your eyes 🙄

When I read the title I thought this thread was about the infrequent
coming together of Eddie Izzard and Julian Clary.

… every egg passed your eyes

🙄 indeed, timba 🙂

In Luxembourg (and France), most of the really big supermarkets don’t have prepacked mince, they take meat and mince if for you on the spot. I’ll eat that rare but knowing how it starts to break down after mincing I won’t do the same with pre-packed. That said I do eat rare burgers when I’m eating out so maybe I’m just being precious.

Mincing meat is definitely an agitating process and would allow bacteria to prosper.

However, if it’s fairly fresh, I wouldn’t, and do, have no problem with it.

You get asked how you want your burger done most times in the Middle East, and that’s down to American cultural influences.

If it smells good, it eats good!

We used to eat raw sausages as kids. Cut the end off the skin and squeeze it out like an ice-pop.

That is rank!

Same here Onzadog. Tastes good.
Edit: and bacon.

If it smells off, stick it in a curry, that’s my rule for meat.

Bacon has at least been cured but raw sausage meat is pretty grim.

Every egg eh? Care to bet on that?

NHS and Lion seem to think differently.

I can’t believe I spelt meat wrong every time

It was probably your spell chequer.

I believe a lot of restaurants and other burger outlets have become very cautious regarding rare meat, often sticking in a meat thermometer and insisting on a minimum, by which time it’s overcooked.

Steak Tartare is fabulous.

We used to eat raw sausages as kids. Cut the end off the skin and squeeze it out like an ice-pop.

you won’t meat many girls doing that.

i remember as a kid, my mate brian going into the freezer in his garage and helping himself to a frozen burgher ‘lolly’. he’s still alive but a bit mental…

We used to eat raw sausages as kids. Cut the end off the skin and squeeze it out like an ice-pop.

another +1

I’m sure the theory is correct, but clearly the risks are low as many thousands of people eat medium rare minced burgers every day and survive perfectly well. It goes without saying the fresher the produce the lower the risk, minced beef doesn’t have the monopoly on causing food poisoning. You’re probably more at risk dining in a dodgy curry house or eating from a dodgy fast food joint. The burger chain, Byron burger, is doing pretty well selling medium rare burgers and I can’t imagine they are being minced to order – they’ll be made in a factory somewhere, frozen then shipped out.

Don’t most STWers mince around in a somewhat rare fashion when they meet for a ride??

From Byron burgers website…

We take four cuts of properly sourced British beef. We mince it fresh and cook it medium so it’s pink, juicy and succulent. We place it in a soft, squishy bun with minimum fuss and fanfare. We serve it with a smile in a comfortable environment. And that’s it.

@squirrelking

Every egg eh? Care to bet on that?

It was a poor pun, but read the post again 🙂 🙂

FML.

Bravo sir.

I don’t eat beef … mad cow and all that.

I don’t eat half cooked meat (rare whatever) because I don’t like storing parasites in me.

All meat, red or white, that I consume are well done. i.e. cooked properly until it is completely dead.

My old man used to get a bag of mince from the butchery bit at the supermarket and eat it as he done his shopping. I always thought this was pure filth, my brothers loved it though.