Chorizo Burger Temp

[SNewman004]

Thinking about putting a chorizo burger on the menu. It would most likely be a 50/50 blend of chorizo and ground chuck. I'm thinking this means I can't do a mid rare burger? Anyone have any experience with this?

[pastrygirl]

When meats are mixed, you need to cook them to the higher of the safe temps for the meats.  If the minimum safe cooking temps are beef 140F, pork 145F, and chicken 165F, then a mix of beef and pork should be cooked to 145, and a mix of anything with chicken should be cooked to 165.  And all ground meats require a higher cooking temp so no, pretty much nowhere in the US is a medium rare burger technically allowed.  That said, sometimes you can simply put a disclaimer about potentially hazardous foods on the menu and denote dishes that may be served raw or under-cooked.  Check with your local and state health food health departments.

 

https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html

 

What kind of professional cooking experience do you have?  I would expect someone consulting on a menu to know the safe cooking temps for meats and their local health authority requirements!

 

[gfweb]

I think the way to do this is to precook the Mexican chorizo  and then mix it with the ground beef which you then cook to M.  Probably give it a spin in a food processor after cooking to break it up so it can blend with the beef.

 

Medium mex chorizo is a greasy mess. So precooking solves two problems.

 

[SNewman004]

32 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Medium mex chorizo is a greasy mess. So precooking solves two problems.

 

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I'll play around with it. Thank you.

[Dave W]

Pasteurization times for 150F is quick.  165f chicken is not necessary. Nothing wrong with well done when dealing with chuck and fatty chorizo. 

 

Or, make the chorizo into a sauce. 

Edited May 24, 2017 by Dave W (log)

[pastrygirl]

1 hour ago, Dave W said:

Or, make the chorizo into a sauce. 

 

 

Or cook it all down with sauce and make sloppy Joe's.