Clemson Cooperative Extension

Authority

Academic

Territories

US

Primacy

secondary

Commercial interest

none

Retrieved

2026-08-13

State

Read and citable

Original document

Read in full. Table 2 gives roasting, braising and broil/grill rows by cut and weight. The grilling row — ¾-inch steaks at 4 to 5 minutes per side to 145 °F — is the first non-manufacturer barbecue timing BBQHQ holds for beef steak, and it overlaps AHDB's British figures without being derived from them. Its ground-beef endpoint of 155 °F differs from the USDA FSIS consumer figure of 160 °F; see gap-us-ground-beef-endpoint-discrepancy.

Culinary practice, Technical, Safety

• “Steaks (¾" thick): 4 to 5 min. per side”

  Clemson gives 4 to 5 minutes per side for a ¾-inch beef steak, broiled or grilled, to a medium rare endpoint of 145 °F.

  Thickness:

  ¾ inch, about 19 mm.

  How it was measured:

  Per side, so a total of 8 to 10 minutes turning once.

  Doneness:

  Stated against 145 °F, which the same table calls medium rare.

  Given for steaks generally rather than for a named cut, which is why it is recorded against sirloin and ribeye alike rather than one of them.

• “Ground Beef: 155 °F”

  Clemson states a minimum internal temperature of 155 °F for ground beef, where USDA FSIS gives consumers 160 °F.

  This is 5 °F below the USDA FSIS consumer figure that the rest of BBQHQ's US ground-beef guidance rests on.

  155 °F held for 17 seconds is the FDA Food Code's figure for retail and food service, and it would be easy to assume that is what Clemson is restating. BBQHQ has not established it and does not assert it. See gap-us-ground-beef-endpoint-discrepancy.

  Recorded, not acted on. The US safety rule still carries the FSIS figure, because a consumer cooking at home is who that rule is for.

• “whole muscle meats such as steaks and roasts may be cooked to 145 °F (medium rare), if that is followed by a 4 minute rest before carving or eating”

  Clemson Cooperative Extension states that whole muscle meats such as steaks and roasts may be cooked to 145 °F if that is followed by a four-minute rest before carving or eating.

  FSIS gives THREE minutes for the same temperature, the same foods and the same country. Clemson attributes its figure to nobody.

  Where it applies:

  United States. The factsheet adds that recommendations are specific to South Carolina conditions.

  Safety regime:

  Presented as advice to a home cook.

• “Hold hot foods above 140 °F and cold foods below 40 °F.”

  Clemson Cooperative Extension advises home cooks to hold hot foods above 140 °F and cold foods below 40 °F. The same sentence appears in its pork and lamb factsheets.

  Safety regime:

  Consumer guidance — the only reader-facing hot-holding figure in this catalogue. Every other hold instrument BBQHQ holds binds food businesses.

  Where it applies:

  United States.

  Uncited, like every other figure in these factsheets. 140 °F is the long-standing American consumer figure and the Food Code's retail floor is 135 °F; which instrument Clemson is restating is not established.