Get over yourself!

[Banrion]

That wouldn't be so bad except that it managed to die while it was in his brain.

WARNING: GROSS OUT AHEAD!!!









For the tape worm to have infected his brain, he had to get it from direct fecal ingestion. Most likely human. The tape worm has a very complicated life cycle, and certain stages infect certain organs. The "brain" stage if you will, is the first, meaning ingestion of an egg. It's the more developed adult that attach to the intestine.

In nature, the tape worm eggs are usually ingested by insects, the developing larva then control the brain of the insect and put them in positions to be vulnerable to ingestion by mammals. That's how rabbits, pigs, and cows get the larva in their system, where it infects organs and muscle tissue. Then if infected meat is consumed by humans the tape worm in it's adult stage attached to intestines and leeches off the nutrients and produces eggs which are excreted in feces.

[KMMCurly]

"Just let it look at the oven in terror, then bring it out to me!" Though in this case it would be the grill.

Cookie for anyone who knows where this qoute is from!

[Andara Bledin]

Actually, originally the tapeworm had been attached in the digestive system. It was discovered and he had been given medicine to get rid of it. The doctors don't know how it managed to work its way to his brain, but that's where it died. The first siezure was about a year after the first treatment for it.

A freak occurance, but a very, very good reason to avoid undercooked meat, especially if you don't know how it's been handled.

^-.-^

[Fandangoose]

The appropriate doneness on meat really should depend on the cut.

See, now this bothers me. NOT YOU, Banrion - I've been on this Earth for 40 years, long enough to know that you didn't invent these guidelines - but for some reason it irritates me that some people want other people to cook certain cuts of meat to a certain temp. (Except for Tartar, which by definition obviously can't be anything more than rare). It should be "to each his or her own." If you like your beef well-done, then it shouldn't bother you that your filet mignon is charcoal on the outside.

I admit, rare and medium rare burgers and steaks gross me out. The last time I worked in a restaurant (think Southwestern-themed place that rhymes with "Billy's"), we weren't allowed to cook the burgers to any temp. less than medium. Yet the steaks could be anywhere between rare and well. I feel restaurants should legally be able to have a disclaimer that states something like "If you order a steak cooked to any degree less than medium well, and you keel over and croak on the spot, or else are in a vegetative state for the rest of your miserable life, [Name of establishment] can not be held liable in any way."

[Banrion]

"If you order a steak cooked to any degree less than medium well, and you keel over and croak on the spot, or else are in a vegetative state for the rest of your miserable life, [Name of establishment] can not be held liable in any way."

Most restaurants around here do have a disclaimer on the menu about consuming raw or undercooked meat.

I also didn't mean to imply that everyone should like their meat the same way, but there are some traits of certain cuts that get lost the more it is cooked. Just as an example, Prime Rib. If you want a melt in your mouth like butter texture from your prime rib, you cannot cook it to well done. The extra cooking melts more fat out of the meat and it tends to get a bit stringy.

I agree to each their own. Even I will not order anything below medium at a restaurant that I have not been to before, or that doesn't specialize in steaks and such.

[Starlord]

I used to eat regularly at one of a chain of steahouses, and I always got the ribeye, very rare, or 'blue', if you will. When oyu went through, they gave you a little plastic tent that the color and number indicated what steak and how it was to be cooked. When the waitress brought out my plate, I looked at it and said this doesn't look right. I cut a slice into it and it was medium. I excused myself from my party and went up to the 'chef,' (I use the word loosely). I told him the steak was overcooked and not the way I ordered it. I told him it was a ribeye, very rare. He looked at me with fire in his eye, reached in his little refrigerator and got a steak, threw it on the grill, flipped it over, then onto a sizzle plate, and slid it across the counter with a "Take that!" attitude. I asked him why he couldn't have done that the first time. He pointed at it with a look of horror on his face and said, "You're gonna eat THAT?" It waws priceless. they are supposed to cook the steaks the way the customer orders, not how they like them

[Starlord]

Nowadays, I still at my steak very rare. Hamburgers however, are always well done. Anyone who eats rare burgers is asking for a bout of e.coli. I got mono when I was in high school because the local teen hangout did not wash their dishes properly, and I was lucky. the same place was also the central point for several Trenchmouth infestations.

My sister, when we were kids would not eat a steak unless it crunched when she bit it. Gordon Ramsey, (Hell's Kitchen) can tell you how well done meat is cooked merely by touchiing it.

[JustADude]

I used to eat regularly at one of a chain of steahouses, and I always got the ribeye, very rare, or 'blue', if you will. When oyu went through, they gave you a little plastic tent that the color and number indicated what steak and how it was to be cooked. When the waitress brought out my plate, I looked at it and said this doesn't look right. I cut a slice into it and it was medium. I excused myself from my party and went up to the 'chef,' (I use the word loosely). I told him the steak was overcooked and not the way I ordered it. I told him it was a ribeye, very rare. He looked at me with fire in his eye, reached in his little refrigerator and got a steak, threw it on the grill, flipped it over, then onto a sizzle plate, and slid it across the counter with a "Take that!" attitude. I asked him why he couldn't have done that the first time. He pointed at it with a look of horror on his face and said, "You're gonna eat THAT?" It waws priceless. they are supposed to cook the steaks the way the customer orders, not how they like them

Okay, maybe it's just deja vu, but I could've sworn I'd read that story before. Either that or I've been reading two separate threads about steak temperature without realizing they were different.

[Andara Bledin]

Okay, maybe it's just deja vu, but I could've sworn I'd read that story before. Either that or I've been reading two separate threads about steak temperature without realizing they were different.

You're not the only one, Dude.

^-.-^

[Jester]

The appropriate doneness on meat really should depend on the cut.

(NOTE: Please understand, the following is not an attack on Banrion so much as on certain words he uses that many others use when they preach at me about how I eat my meat.)

I love how people use the word "appropriate" in these situations. As a member of the food service community for more years than I care to admit, I have to tell you there is only one appropriate way to cook meat: the way the customer orders it. Period. Admittedly, certain ways are considered PREFERABLE to others for certain cuts of meat, but that does not mean that other ways are not appropriate. It is just like wine. If I want a red wine with my fish, that is totally appropriate. Why? Because it is the way I, the customer, wants it. It is what I, the customer, am ordering and paying for. Period, end of story.

Myself, I eat my meat, all my meat, bloody or medium rare at most. It is the way I like it. From tuna steaks to burgers to prime ribs to filet mignons, I like my meat bloody. While this may gross YOU out, just remember this: a well done piece of meat or fish is just as gross to me as a rare piece is to you. So bugger off if you're the type to get preachy about such things, as I don't tell you how to eat your damn food.

Just as an example, Prime Rib. If you want a melt in your mouth like butter texture from your prime rib, you cannot cook it to well done. The extra cooking melts more fat out of the meat and it tends to get a bit stringy.

And that is why, generally speaking, those who order well done prime ribs are encouraged to take the end cut. Not only is it naturally going to be cooked more than the middle cuts, but it tends to have more fat proportionately than the middle cuts, so while much of the fat does melt, there is still plenty left for flavor.

Anyone who eats rare burgers is asking for a bout of e.coli.

Perhaps. Hasn't happened to me yet. And frankly, as an adult (last I checked anyway), I should be allowed to order my food any way I want. And if a particular establishment is not willing to cook my food that way, I won't bitch and moan and complain, but I will not order that particular food in that particular place. I know they have corporate rules and sometimes even municipal laws they have to follow, so I am not going to throw a hissy fit. But you can bet your bottom dollar that I am going to be more than willing to patronize establishments that are going to cook me food the way I like it, whether it be bloody burgers or some kind of special request for a twist on something on their menu.

I do not dispute an establishment's right to cook or not cook food as they see fit. But I DO have a big problem with "do gooders" bringing about laws that require restaurants to cook things a certain ways to "protect" me from myself.

And on that note, will someone please pass the sushi?

[Banrion]

I can agree on the appropriate part, bad choice of words on my part. I also agree that you should be able to have your food cooked the way YOU want it. I too am tired of people get grossed out that I eat most of my meat rare. But I was born in Iowa to the daughter of 3 generations of beef packers, rare is just they way I was raised. One Thanksgiving when I was a kid, my grandfather took me to the stockyard to pick out my Christmas Prime Rib which I though was totally cool. Now living in New England, it seems like a crime to order meat anything under medium-well. It might be a carryover regional thing since in the past getting fresh beef to the coasts was a difficult task?

[JustADude]

It might be a carryover regional thing since in the past getting fresh beef to the coasts was a difficult task?

Sounds like as logical an explanation as anything. They had to cook the meat more because there was more chance of it having gotten something growing in it while it 'aged' on the trip out to them, while the people who could pick their steaks while they were still mooing were able to eat it rare without any problems.


Me, I like my beef mediumish. I'll go medium-rare if it's a GOOD cut of meat, medium for average cuts and burgers, and medium-well for stuff that looks questionable in quality.

[Jack7957]

I prefer my burgers rare to medium rare, so the juices are dripping with every bite. Any other kind of meat, like steak, medium please.

My one sick from meat story is back in the mid 90's, when Mad Cow was all over the news. At work, the company that did our vending machines decided to throw us a cookout. Something like $1 got you a burger, bag of chips and a soda. I don't remember if they were taking orders for how you wanted them cooked, but both myself and the guy that was behind me in line, came down with something and missed work the next day. We claimed we got the secret mad cow burgers.

[Fandangoose]

Just as an example, Prime Rib. If you want a melt in your mouth like butter texture from your prime rib, you cannot cook it to well done.

Yeah, good point. I kinda forgot about that with prime rib. My second job was at a bar/restaurant where each year for the Super Bowl party, we had a retired Navy cook (one of the bar's regular customers) come in to make prime rib, something we didn't normally serve. He did always cook the ribs to medium. Then after they were sliced and served, if any of the "33" Club members didn't like it, they could send it back and we'd nuke their rib for a few minutes.

[Bagga]

When I lived in the Basque part of Spain, I went to a cidreria, and I don't know how they did it, but they managed to make steaks blue without them being cool in the middle.

The steaks were about three quarters of an inch thick, brown but not crunchy on each side, for less than 1 millimetre into the steak, and served on a VERY hot cast iron platter, so you could sort of continue to cook mouthfuls by pressing them to the platter. They were piping hot all the way through, yet still bloody.

None of us were able to test if the heat "after-cooked" them to pink or light brown, because we fell upon them like hyenas and chomped them down as fast as we could - they were delicious. And up till then I had always been a medium well-done carnivore.