How to handle meat without fail
THE RIGHT WAY TO HANDLE MEAT
Foolproof Meat Handling
"Not sure if you thawed it right?" "Don't know the right doneness?" — we'll put all those worries to rest. From storage methods to cooking tips for every kind of meat, organized by category.
Put it in the freezer as soon as it arrives — don't put it off for "later." Refrigeration is fine only if you're cooking it the same day.
If you ordered chilled items (like block cuts) together with frozen items, everything ships together in a frozen shipment, so the chilled items may arrive partly frozen. If you plan to freeze it, put it straight in the freezer; if you plan to thaw it, put it in the refrigerator.
For items that shipped frozen, it's fine as long as the center is still cold. Even if the surface feels soft, put it in the freezer right away or cook it that same day.
If you're freezing a chilled item (like a block cut), about 1–2 months unopened in its vacuum-sealed pack is a good guideline. For items that arrive already frozen, the label shows the frozen best-by date, so please eat it within that window. Home freezers fluctuate in temperature every time they're opened, so it's best to use everything up sooner rather than later.
We recommend slow thawing in the refrigerator. It takes time, but it minimizes flavor loss and carries almost zero risk of foodborne illness — it's the safest method.
As a guideline: thin slices and ground meat take 6–12 hours, steaks and chops take 12–24 hours, and larger cuts (2.2 lb / 1 kg or more) take 24–48 hours. Move it to the fridge the night before and it'll be ready to use the next day.
Submerge it, still in its vacuum-sealed pack, in a bowl of cold water under running water. It will thaw in 30–60 minutes. Never use hot water — it partially cooks the surface, hurting both texture and food safety.
Use the "defrost" setting (200W or lower) and check every 2–3 minutes. Stop as soon as the edges start to feel warm. Don't aim for complete thawing — it's fine to leave a bit of a frozen core in the center.
It's best to avoid this if possible, since it raises the food-safety risk. If it has been refrozen, be sure to cook it thoroughly all the way through before eating — raw or rare is not safe in this case.
This is discoloration from oxidation during freezing (freezer burn), not spoilage. If the smell is normal and there's no sliminess, you can trim off the discolored part and cook the rest.
If there's an unusual odor or sliminess, please don't use it and contact us instead.
As a guideline, use it within 2–3 days of refrigerator thawing. Ground meat spoils especially fast, so use it up the same day or the day after thawing.
Completely normal. Drip is just water, protein, flavor compounds, and vitamins that have leaked out of the cells. Pat it thoroughly dry with paper towels before cooking — cooking it as-is can cause off-flavors and uneven browning.
In most cases the cause is cooking it straight from the fridge. Let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking. For cuts thicker than 1 inch (2.5cm), wrap in foil and rest for 3–5 minutes after cooking so the heat finishes reaching the center.
Three usual causes: ① overcooking, ② cooking it cold over high heat, or ③ cutting into it right after cooking. Following this order — bring to room temperature → sear over high heat → finish over low heat → rest — will dramatically improve results.
By internal temperature: rare 122°F (50°C), medium-rare 131°F (55°C), medium 144°F (62°C), well-done 158°F (70°C) or higher. By the finger-press test: rare feels like the softness of your cheek, medium-rare like the tip of your nose, and medium like the firmness of your forehead.
With a cast-iron or stainless-steel pan, it's fine to heat it until it smokes — that step is actually necessary to prevent sticking. With a coated (non-stick) pan, never heat it until it smokes; use oil to prevent sticking instead.
If it does smoke, turn your range hood up to max and preheat fully before adding the meat. Adding meat before it smokes means the pan isn't hot enough yet and it will stick. With proper preheating, the heaviest smoke only lasts about the first 30 seconds.
Usually the oven temperature was too high, or it didn't rest long enough. Roast low and slow at 250–285°F (120–140°C), aiming for an internal temperature of 131–136°F (55–58°C), then wrap in foil and rest for at least 20 minutes after removing from the oven.
This cut has thick muscle fibers, so how you slice it after cooking matters a lot. Always slice thin and against the grain (perpendicular to the fibers) — that alone makes a surprising difference in tenderness.
Press a dimple into the center when shaping the patty, then cover the pan and steam-cook. The food-safety standard is an internal temperature of 167°F (75°C) or higher. Insert a skewer — if the juices run clear, it's fully cooked.
Grass-fed beef is leaner, so overcooking is an absolute no. We recommend medium-rare (internal temperature 131°F / 55°C).
Cook it hot and fast, then rest it well, and you'll get all the concentrated flavor of great lean beef.
The golden rule for braising is "low and slow" — keeping it at a rolling boil toughens the meat. After parboiling, let it cool once so the flavor can soak in; this extra cooling step keeps the meat moist.
The most important things are precise temperature control and cooking time. Holding 145°F (63°C) for at least 4 hours meets food-safety standards. Finish with a 30-second sear in a hot pan for crust and aroma.
Right after thawing, pat off the drip, sprinkle lightly with salt, let it sit 10 minutes, then pat dry again. Marinating it further in yogurt, garlic, or rosemary significantly reduces the smell.
The area near the bone is always the last to cook through. Stand the chops on the bone side while cooking, or sear first and finish in the oven (355°F / 180°C for 5–7 minutes) for reliably even cooking.
This is caused by overcooking. Lamb is at its best medium-rare (internal temperature 131–140°F / 55–60°C) — cook it beyond that and it toughens up quickly. For thin chops, sear each side for about 1–1.5 minutes over high heat.
Mutton is best suited to braising. Simmer it 2–3 hours with red wine and spices (cumin, coriander, cinnamon) and the strong flavor cooks off, leaving a rich, deep taste. Curries and stews are especially forgiving and a great place to start.
Pairing it with acidic ingredients like mint sauce, lemon, or yogurt significantly softens the distinctive flavor. Soaking it in diluted milk for 10–15 minutes before cooking, then patting it dry, works well too.
Always use a thermometer. The target for roast lamb is an internal temperature of 144–149°F (62–65°C), or medium. Roast at 430°F (220°C) for 15 minutes to set the surface, then lower to 320°F (160°C) and cook slowly until it hits the target temperature.
The area around the bone is especially slow to cook, so score the meat along the bone with a knife before marinating. When roasting, flipping it partway through also helps.
Also, when roasting a large cut in the oven, covering it with foil is a very effective way to prevent burning — it stops the outside from scorching while letting the inside cook through slowly. Wrapping the bone in foil helps prevent it from burning too.
Pork needs to reach an internal temperature of at least 145°F (63°C) — either held at that temperature for 30+ minutes, or 167°F (75°C) or higher for at least 1 minute. It's safe even if still pink inside as long as it's reached that temperature, but raw or undercooked pork carries a food-poisoning risk.
Low and slow is the answer. Braise it on low heat in a pot, or roast it at 320°F (160°C) for 2–3 hours — the collagen breaks down into gelatin and turns meltingly tender. A pressure cooker gets the same result in 30–40 minutes.
This happens from rapid cooking over high heat. Poke 2–3 small holes with a skewer, or start them in cold water and cook gently over low-to-medium heat. If the casing doesn't split, the sausage stays juicy and delicious.
MeatGuy's raw sausages must always be cooked. Please always cook them all the way through before eating.
Two steps: ① parboil for 30 minutes in water with sake and ginger, then ② brush on sauce and finish in the oven or on the grill. Pressure-cooking for 30 minutes then grilling will get the meat falling off the bone.
For oven cooking, wrap the ribs tightly and completely in foil. This fills the inside of the foil with saturated steam at 167–185°F (75–85°C), efficiently turning the collagen to gelatin while keeping all the moisture in. Oven temperature: 285–320°F (140–160°C).
Time: 1.5–2 hours.
Cured/processed hams (such as prosciutto-style hams, turkey ham, and salami) can be eaten as-is.
Please check the product label — if it says "cook before eating," always cook it before eating.
Pork belly is fatty and burns easily over direct heat. First brown all sides gently over low-to-medium heat, then either cover and steam-cook, or wrap in foil and finish in the oven at 320°F (160°C) for 40 minutes.
The food-safety standard is an internal temperature of 167°F (75°C) for at least 1 minute. Insert a skewer — clear juices mean it's done, pink juices mean it needs more cooking. For thick pieces, scoring the meat before cooking helps it cook more evenly.
This is caused by cooking too hot for too long. Sous-vide style cooking at 149–158°F (65–70°C), or brining (soak in 1L water + 15g salt for 30 minutes to 1 hour) dramatically improves the result. When pan-cooking, cover the pan and steam-cook it.
The golden rule is to cook it skin-side-down over medium heat, patiently. Start skin-side down and leave it untouched until it's 70–80% cooked, wiping away rendered fat with a paper towel as you go — this is what gets you crispy skin. Flipping it back and forth too much will make the skin shrink and toughen, so avoid that.
Bone conducts heat poorly, so the meat right next to it cooks more slowly than the rest. Check with a skewer that it's cooked all the way to the bone. If unsure, score the meat along the bone before cooking, or cover the pan and steam-cook for more even results.
Tenderloin is very lean and doesn't tolerate overcooking. The trick is to take it off the heat as soon as the center reaches about 167°F (75°C) and let residual heat finish it. Remove the tendon before cooking, and butterfly it for even thickness — this also helps it stay tender.
Always wash your hands, cutting board, and utensils after they touch raw chicken and before they touch any other ingredients. The standard is an internal temperature of 167°F (75°C) for at least 1 minute. Don't rely on the surface simply changing color — the most reliable check is inserting a thermometer into the thickest part.
The two most important things: thaw it completely, and check with a thermometer. Refrigerator thawing for a 9–11lb (4–5kg) bird takes about 2 days. The standard for doneness is an internal breast temperature of 167°F (75°C). Covering it with foil partway through helps prevent burning.
Wait until the charcoal is covered in white ash before putting food on the grill — right after lighting, while flames are still visible, the heat is too unstable. For thick cuts, the most reliable method is two-zone cooking: cook slowly over indirect heat at the edge of the grill, then move to the center over direct heat to get color.
This is usually caused by "flare-ups," where dripping fat catches fire. If flames appear, move the meat to the side. Meat coated in marinade sauce burns more easily because of the sugar content, so apply sauce just before the meat is done.
The classic approach is two steps: low and slow, then finish over direct heat. Wrap the ribs in foil and cook at the edge of the charcoal for 1–2 hours, then remove the foil and finish over direct heat for color. Using a thermometer further reduces the chance of anything going wrong.
Lamb chops are thin, which makes temperature control over direct heat tricky. As a basic rule, sear each side for 1–1.5 minutes over hot coals. If it's still undercooked, move it to the edge of the grill (indirect heat) for another 2–3 minutes. Aim for an internal temperature of 131–140°F (55–60°C).
Three things: ① thawing (move to the fridge), ② marinating (overnight in a zip-top bag), and ③ scoring/tendon-trimming and seasoning. On the day, all you have to do is grill — marinating both tenderizes the meat and removes odor, killing two birds with one stone.
If you have raw meat left over, cook it and eat it the same day, or store it in a sealed container and use it by the next day. For cooked leftovers, let them cool, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 2 days. When reheating, always heat it all the way through to the center.
Charcoal produces intense radiant heat that's harder to gauge than a pan. If you have a lidded grill, closing the lid turns it into more of an oven, cooking more evenly. Without a lid, switch between direct and indirect heat, and check the internal temperature with a thermometer for reliable results.
Always confirm chicken has reached an internal temperature of at least 167°F (75°C). To avoid ending up with a burnt exterior and a raw interior, the most reliable method is to cook it slowly over indirect heat away from the coals, then finish over direct heat at the end just to add color.