"Make my burger medium-rare please."

Some ten years ago, in a hotel inDevon, I was told that regulations forbade my steak being cooked rare...

This is from the Food Standards Agency website:
Rare meat

It's fine to eat steaks and other whole cuts of beef and lamb rare, as long as the outside has been properly cooked or 'sealed'. Steaks are usually sealed in a frying pan over a high heat. It's important to seal meat to kill any bacteria that might be on the outside. You can tell that a piece of meat has been properly sealed because all the outside will have changed colour. It's OK to serve beef and lamb joints rare too, as long as the joint is a single piece of meat, not a rolled joint (made from different pieces of meat rolled together). But pork joints and rolled joints shouldn't be served rare. To check these types of joint are properly cooked, put a skewer into the centre of the joint. The juices shouldn't have any pink or red in them. Remember, you shouldn't eat these types of meat rare:

poultry
pork
burgers, sausages, chicken nuggets
rolled joints
kebabs
This is because these types of meat can have bacteria all the way through them, not just on the outside. So if they aren't properly cooked then any bacteria in the meat might not be killed.

Note the "CAN have" and "MIGHT not", though.

I love a bloody steak but the texture of rare burgers makes me a bit so I prefer them cooked through.

I had the opposite problem. On one of the rare occasions that I was eating at Nutters, I asked for my steak to be well done. The When it came it was certainly not well done, and after the meal the older condescending bloke said something along the lines of "I know you asked for your steak well done, but we know better and gave you medium, and we hope that you will have it rare (the proper way) next time".

Next time I might ask for ketchup or curry sauce on it.

There is no right or wrong way to cook meats. Meat should be eaten to suit the eaters taste. Meat that is contaminated with unacceptable bacteria is the fault of the service / and or chain thereof. Risk of food poisoning is the eaters no matter what you eat or where you eat it. Any food outlet that doesn't point this out when given an order that contains such a risk i.e. underdone as explained above, shouldn't argue ignorance as a defense in the light of any future litigation. It is bad business to 'refuse' a customer his rights to eat what he wants from the preparation point of view and could consequently lose the place business - especially if they are being pedantic about it.
My answer would have been - give me what I asked for otherwise my many friends and I will eat elsewhere in future. I reckon you would have got your rare steak somewhat rapidly JohnB.

Have you ever been to France and asked for a 'fillet Anglaise'.

Otherwise kmown as shoe leather!!

Atlas wrote:

My answer would have been - give me what I asked for otherwise my many friends and I will eat elsewhere in future. I reckon you would have got your rare steak somewhat rapidly JohnB.

Regrettably it was late, I'd been booked Ito the hotel on business and didn't have any option.

We aren't allowed snack boxes (brought in and stocked by some company, can't recall whom, save you running off to the shop in a chocolate emergency) or to display those sweets for sale for Macmillan Nurses at work because they're baaaaaaaad and sugary.

I feel sorry for people that eat kebabs and takeaways, but, they must develop an immunity to almost everything?

Never tasted a kebab in my life....and never will!

I think restaurants should serve meat the way the customer wants it. There is no right or wrong way,it's a matter of personal taste. I like medium and if it turns up on the rare side I am not too worried. I know people who like meat well done, so what! Presumably steak tartare which is raw mince is still legal. Not my cup of tea but some like it.
Too many chefs feel insulted if a customer wants food served in a particular way, the customer pays and should get what they want. There is an awful lot of snobbery attached to eating out. I am a complete philistine when it comes to wine for example, I would not know the difference between a quality wine and a vimto. If I want tomato sauce or salad cream or anything else then I should get it. I am paying.

I'm with you on the wine Past It, wouldn't know one from the other. Most of them I've tasted are like vinegar but if you can get past the first glass or two strangely they become better

I do not know much about wines either.

Claret is nice, sometimes.

I too only started dabbling in wine about 7-8 years ago. Most French stuff is overpriced and over-rated. The Fisherman's Retreat has a great range.

Avoid anything from Blossom Hill or Ernest and Gallo.

For a white try a Brancott Estate Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand at seven quid in Tesco.

For a red most Riojas are okay but avoid the really cheap ones. Spend 8-10 quid for something respectable.

Roses are best avoided unless you really know a good one but there are few around.

The half-price offers at Tesco are usually disappointing unless you know what you are looking for though Isla Negra is ok for quaffing.l

[quote="nickih"]This is from the Food Standards Agency website:
Rare meat

. It's OK to serve beef and lamb joints rare too, as long as not a rolled joint .

quote]

I like my steaks rare but have never been offered a rolled joint to accompany them. Have I been eating in the wrong restaurants?

[quote="Heywoodpp"]

nickih wrote:This is from the Food Standards Agency website:
Rare meat

. It's OK to serve beef and lamb joints rare too, as long as not a rolled joint .

quote]

I like my steaks rare but have never been offered a rolled joint to accompany them. Have I been eating in the wrong restaurants?

Not to be sniffed at Your Grace.

[quote="Heywoodpp"]

nickih wrote:This is from the Food Standards Agency website:
Rare meat

. It's OK to serve beef and lamb joints rare too, as long as not a rolled joint .

quote]

I like my steaks rare but have never been offered a rolled joint to accompany them. Have I been eating in the wrong restaurants?

Me neither, now I come to think of it...... I maybe need to try further afield.

The reference is to a 'boned' and 'rolled' joint -such could be a lamb/pork shoulder or fillet (not to be confused with fillet of beef which is completely different or a 'fillet' of steak as refered to in some butchers as a thin slice). Legs, shoulders and other joints roasted whole with the bone in constitute no danger providing the correct temperatures have been used. Chicken or other fowl constitute the most danger and if off the bone should never be undercooked. You can never eliminate all the dangers of food poisoning unless you have reared, killed and prepared the meat yourself. Life's a lottery - as I keep telling the H&S Inspectors. All you can hope to do is use your common sense and keep yer fingers crossed - but not whilst using a hammer -doh! Ex butcher amongst other things.