| Type of Meat | Ideal Temp | Grill Temp |
| chicken & turkey | breast: 160-165
thigh: 170-175 |
medium (350-375) |
| beef & lamb | rare: 120-130
med rare:130-135 medium: 140-150 med well: 155-165 |
hot (400-450) or
medium (350-375) |
| veal | medium: 140-150 | medium (350-375) |
| pork | medium: 140
med well: 150-160 |
medium to hot (350-450) |
| fish | medium rare: 120
medium: 135 |
medium (350-375) |
It always makes us sad to pull a beautiful piece of meat off the grill, only to find when our guests cut into it that it's been overcooked. Even twenty-four hours in a great marinade can't insure that your pork tenderloin won't be tough and dry when it hits the plate. Truth is, that as much as you want to believe that you just "know" when that burger's done, the only way to be absolutely sure is to use a good food thermometer. In the sidebar are some rough guidelines for the "ideal" final temperatures for some meats. These may be our "ideal" ways to present these meats, but we urge you to consider them.
Our grandmothers had to cook well-done pork because of parasites that existed in the animals at that time. Today's producers grow a very clean product that no longer threatens human health if not cooked to the point where it's tasteless and stringy. Our "ideal" pork chop is slightly pink in the middle. If you just can't stand the idea of that, add about 10 degrees to our recommended finished temperature.
Depending on the physical mass of the meat, the internal temperature will continue to rise 5-10 degrees AFTER it is removed from the grill. The larger the piece, the higher the temperature will rise. We almost always recommend removing the meat from the grill and letting it set, covered with foil, for at least 5 mins (up to 15 for large roasts, such as beef tenderloin) while the juices settle, and the temperature stabilizes.
The temperatures are given in degrees Fahrenheit.