Why is it okay to eat steak when it’s pink in the middle, but not hamburger patties?
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The germs that make you sick are on the surface of the meat. Ground beef is a surface area bonanza so you cook it all the way or face the risk. Searing the steak is all you need to do because the center has no germs.
The inside of a steak hasn’t been touched by humans or bacteria. The ground mix of a burger can have bacteria inside that survives a light cooking. It’s not super deadly to eat an undercooked burger, but the risk is there. Source: I frequently eat my burgers and steaks very rare.
A steak is a solid piece of meat. Two sides of it have been touched by a knife. Contamination risk is low.
Commercially available minced meat has all been in contact with grinding plates, which may have been in contact with the flesh from dozens of animals since they were last cleaned. Everything throughout a burger has potential contaminant. This raises the contamination risk by several thousand times. You want to cook that stuff all the way through.
If you make your own mince using equipment you know its clean and in small batches then the risk is no higher than the steak you put in, and pink burgers are fine.
Food spoils because of bacteria, tiny little organisms which are practically everywhere. Cooking will kill those little guys off and the inside of a piece of steak is protected because there is no pathway for them to have worked into the interior since the cow died. Bacteria can’t just appear out of nowhere and the barrier of the meat means there is nothing in there to kill off.
Hamburger on the other hand is ground up meat. Bacteria can be mixed deep into the inside of a hamburger on the surface of the meat which is all mixed up, meaning cooking the interior is important to kill that stuff off.
You can cook a medium rare burger sous vide, and it is safe. Pink in the middle, nice and juicy and delicious. Sear in a skillet and enjoy.
With a steak, the germs that can harm us are generally on the outside and are killed by cooking.
On ground beef, the germs were on the outside, but when it was ground up, some of those ended up on the inside where they can survive cooking if the meat is not fully cooked.
I live in Canada and the “done-ness” of a burger is never asked here, they are always cooked through. However I’ve traveled quite a bit in the US and they always ask how I want my burger cooked. I guess the ‘Mericans are just bigger risk takers than us Canucks. 🤷
Dont know how it is where you are from, but in Germany you can eat raw minced meat No problem. Mett Brötchen is a very common thing where I come from. It’s minced pork with onion on bread.
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FWIW, some people (like me) frequently eat burgers cooked rare with no ill effects. As most of the other comments say, the risk/opportunity for contamination is much higher with a burger than a steak, but that’s not to say that a lot of people/places can’t make a rare burger that’s safe to eat.
European over here. Ever heard of steak tartare? Also, we order burgers rare over here.
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