Can you keep burgers at room temperature?

Question

I work at a restaurant as a line cook, I've been cooking for about 11 years. The other night I worked my first dinner shift at this particular restuarant as I am usually working breakfast. In preparation for the shift I was told by the chef to take the raw burgers out of the fridge and to keep them at room temp, his reasoning is that at room temp they cook faster as well as more evenly than they do straight from the cooler. I disagreed with this method as I know that the bacteria breeds at warmer temperatures especially on raw meat, he told me that it was legal and perfectly ok as long as they are cooked and served within 6 hours. My view on it is that if the bacteria breeds, and then the burger is ordered at a rare or medium rare temp, then the cooking temp does not reach the 145 degree safe zone so to speak. But even if the burger is cooked to a higher temp do you not still run the risk? So really I want to know how is this ok? I've never seen it done before and he told me that this is how he's always done it. I'm also not the only person to disagree with this, I was just the only one to say something.

Answer 1

Hi Shawn

It is good to take meat out of the fridge to bring it to room temp. before cooking BUT ONLY FOR ABOUT 20 MINS before cooking, NO LONGER. This method is mainly used for steaks and joints of meat as bringing it to room temp does aid in cooking and makes for a better flavour BUT if your head chef is suggesting it should be left out for longer I would strongly disagree and would recommend calling the food safety authorities. Leaving any perishable goods out of the fridge is BAD it encourages bacteria to breed, any minced or ground up meat is more prone to this than a full piece of meat.

This practice is normally used for home cooking as you have more control, we do not encourage it in food establishments as there are too many variables.(someone might forget).

To be able to do this in the first place you need to know where the meat came from, you need to be confident that it has been stored correctly and not left out of the fridge for long during its life before it got to you.



To be brutally honest even though bringing meat to room temp does make for a nicer steak or burger IT IS NOT USED IN CATERING AT ALL. FULL STOP. THERE ARE TOO MANY VARIABLES.



I've worked in catering for years and I know its not easy to stand up to head chefs but you may be doing a service by reporting (no names) it to the authorities if the meat is left out for long periods.



Good luck! ☺

www.clairecooks.com

Answer 2

Burger Room

Answer 3

First thing to do is to check out his story. Find out how long legally he can keep the meat out at room temp. Sorry to say, he may be right, your local laws might allow this.



But, he better hope the public does not find out, because we know that this is a potentially dangerous idea.



And he is probably also aware that it is extremely difficult to trace a case of food poisoning, and pin it on a particular dish in a particular restaurant. It can take 2 weeks for food poisoning symptoms to appear.Only when many people get sick and report it, can health department can track it down to a particular time and date and dish.

And sorry to say, most food poisoning cases are traced to a problem at home. I have a friend who did not cook chicken up to temp, and her whole family ended up in the ER.

Answer 4

It is not a good idea. Food such as meat kept at room temperature for over 4 hrs,including preparation time,has the potential of being a health hazard. Because of that, your boss may be in violation of the health codes of your county health department. He could be fined or even closed down about it. You may want to get a copy of the health code and show it to him.

Answer 5

They are kept in a walk-in cooler, just before freezing, but not below it, I assume. In the place I work we keep burger patties in the cooler, wrapped in deli paper, in a tupperware-type container. We sell enough to never have to freeze them. We usually get close to selling out the night before the meat truck arrives.

Answer 6

No, it is not a good thing at all!