The issue with most cooking guides is that they give you a temperature and they say: "Hey! Here's the perfect temperature your meat should be if you want it cooked *this way*!"
When you're grilling at home, you deserve to cook your meat the way you want. But first, you must know how.
With the handy temperature guide below, you'll figure it out the perfect temperature to get your meat how you want it. (We also have a guide about direct vs. indirect heat on the grill, if you're interested in that!)
Don't Forget About Carryover Cooking
Carryover cooking refers to the phenomenon that food retains heat and continues to cook, even after being removed from the source of heat. The larger and denser the object being heated, the greater the amount of carryover cooking.
The graphic below has adjusted temperatures to account for carryover cooking. In other words, if you take the meat off the grill at the temperatures indicated on the chart, they will be perfectly cooked after carryover cooking.
*Disclaimer: You should never cook chicken, fish, or turkey below well done. You should never cook pork rare or medium rare. Beef, lamb, and veal are safe at rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, or well done, keeping in mind that consuming raw or under-cooked meats may increase your risk of foodborne illness.
