While meat and seafood are very tasty to eat, they’re not things that many folks feel confident about cooking. There’s always a possibility of it being undercooked or overcooked to the point where it’s not safe or enjoyable to eat. Here you’ll find out how to cook your meat to perfection every time.

Take the Guesswork out of Cooking Meat

Meat can be a little scary to cook, but that’s mostly because of the fear of undercooking or overcooking it. Undercooking means potential sickness, while overcooking leads to tough, dry cardboard. Both are best avoided, and we know how. By learning the proper temperatures to cook meat, you’ll never have to worry whether or not it’s done cooking, and you won’t have to suffer through another overcooked piece of meat again.

Our temperature recommendations are just slightly lower than what you might typically see in other guides, since we try to account for “carryover cooking,” which is an important concept for cooking just about any ingredient. Carryover cooking happens when food continues to cook from residual heat even after you take it off its heat source.

Meat still tends to cook for another few degrees after taken off heat, so cook them to the recommended temps in our Meat Temperature Guide below, and they’ll be at the right doneness after resting. This guide is perfect for consulting whenever you cook, no matter what cooking method you use. Just keep a digital thermometer on hand so that you can check the temps!

Infographic

Meat Temperature Guide

Cook meat to perfection with this helpful cooking infographic from Cook Smarts.

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