Don't Use Jaccard Blade Tenderizers on Food That Will Not Be Cooked Beyond 160°F
These nifty devices are designed to tenderize meat by slicing through tough fibers. You place it on top of the meat and press it down plunging thin razor sharp blades into the meat, and in the process plunge microbes on the surface deep into the interior. They work.
But there is a danger. A piece of meat often has contamination on the surface, but it rarely penetrates to the interior. When you cook, the flame pasteurizes it by killing everything on the exterior. If it has been worked on with a blade tenderizer, there is a much higher risk because the blades could essentially innoculate the interior by pushing in contamination on the surface. To be safe, you need to cook the meat to more than 160°F. That means that if you are cooking to medium rare, 130°F, this device can be dangerous. On the other hand, if you are doing a tough cut such as beef short ribs or beef brisket, which are cooked to 180°F and above, you can use the jaccard, and in fact, I recommend it. You should also avoid commercial meats that have been blade tenderized if you intend to cook the meat to less than 160°F.
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