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. The only source BBQHQ holds that gives one cut TWO grilling windows for two different doneness levels — lamb chops at 7 to 11 minutes for medium rare and 15 to 19 for medium — which is the clearest demonstration in the catalogue that a cooking time is meaningless without the doneness it was measured to. Its American doneness temperatures (145 °F medium rare, 160 °F medium) also sit below the Australian ones, and both are preferences rather than safety figures.

Culinary practice, Technical, Safety

• “Chops (1½" to 1" thick): 7 to 11 minutes”

  Clemson gives 7 to 11 minutes, broiled or grilled, for 1 to 1½ inch lamb chops cooked to medium rare at 145 °F.

  Thickness:

  1 to 1½ inches, about 25 to 38 mm.

  Doneness:

  Medium rare, stated as 145 °F.

  The same row gives a second, much longer window for medium. The time is a function of the doneness, and a chart that gave one number would have hidden that.

• “Chops (1½" to 1" thick): 15 to 19 minutes”

  Clemson gives 15 to 19 minutes, broiled or grilled, for the same 1 to 1½ inch lamb chops cooked to medium at 160 °F.

  Doneness:

  Medium, stated as 160 °F.

  Roughly double the medium-rare window for an identical cut on identical equipment. Any reconciliation that compared this with the medium-rare figure without reading the doneness would report a publisher contradicting itself.

• “Cubes for kabobs (1-1½"): 8 to 12 minutes”

  Clemson gives 8 to 12 minutes, broiled or grilled, for 1 to 1½ inch lamb cubes for kabobs, to 160 °F.

  Form:

  Cubes on skewers, so all faces see the fire in turn.

• “Ground lamb patties (2" thick): 5 to 8 minutes”

  Clemson gives 5 to 8 minutes, broiled or grilled, for 2-inch ground lamb patties cooked to 160 °F.

  Endpoint:

  160 °F, the ground-meat figure, not the 145 °F whole-muscle one on the same table.

  Thickness:

  Stated as 2 inches, which is thick for a patty.

• The Clemson HGIC safe-handling factsheets carry author credits, a pesticide disclaimer and a note that recommendations are specific to South Carolina conditions, and contain no references, bibliography or 'adapted from' statement for any of their food-safety figures.

  Method:

  Established by reading the beef, pork and lamb factsheets and looking specifically for attribution. This is a negative finding about the documents, obtained deliberately.

  Neither the 155 °F ground-beef figure nor the four-minute rest can be traced to an instrument from the factsheets themselves. The residue is preserved rather than resolved by inference.