Carryover cooking chart: when to pull meat off the heat (°C)
Meat keeps cooking after it comes off the heat. This chart gives the working rise for each size of cut, the pull temperatures that follow from it for each doneness, and the UK safety rules that decide whether pink is allowed at all.
1. How much the temperature rises while it rests
| Cut | Typical peak rise | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Thin steaks and chops, under 2 cm | 1–3 °C | Small mass, little stored heat |
| Thick steaks, 3–5 cm | 3–6 °C | Rises more after a hard sear than a gentle roast |
| Whole chicken, 1.5–2 kg | 4–8 °C | Thigh and breast rise at different rates |
| Roasting joint, 2 kg and over | 5–10 °C | Biggest rise; rest it longer |
These are working ranges from a domestic kitchen, not laboratory figures. They're the same ranges used in the issue Carryover cooking and where to put the thermometer. Rise grows with the weight of the piece and with how hot the outside was driven.
2. Pull temperatures for whole cuts of beef and lamb
Pull temperature = the final temperature you want − the expected rise. The finals below are the doneness targets most UK kitchens work to, measured after resting. Kitchens vary by a degree or two.
| Final after resting | Rare 50 °C | Medium rare 55 °C | Medium 60 °C | Medium well 65 °C | Well done 70 °C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thin steak, under 2 cm | 47–49 °C | 52–54 °C | 57–59 °C | 62–64 °C | 67–69 °C |
| Thick steak, 3–5 cm | 44–47 °C | 49–52 °C | 54–57 °C | 59–62 °C | 64–67 °C |
| Joint, 2 kg and over | 40–45 °C | 45–50 °C | 50–55 °C | 55–60 °C | 60–65 °C |
Use the top of the pull range for a gentle roast and the bottom for a hard sear or a very hot oven. Probe again at the end of the rest and write down what happened, because your oven and resting spot will move these numbers.
3. When pink is not an option (UK rules)
GOV.UK guidance for food businesses says poultry, duck and game birds, pork, rolled joints, minced-meat products (burgers, sausages, kebabs) and offal must be cooked all the way through. They should be steaming hot, with juices running clear and no pink meat. Only whole cuts of beef and lamb, such as steaks, cutlets and roasting joints, need just the outside sealed.
For the cook-through list, the Food Standards Agency gives these equivalent combinations of temperature at the centre and time held:
| Core temperature | Held for |
|---|---|
| 60 °C | 45 minutes |
| 65 °C | 10 minutes |
| 70 °C | 2 minutes |
| 75 °C | 30 seconds |
| 80 °C | 6 seconds |
Carryover can carry a chicken the last few degrees, but the coldest reading at the end of the rest has to meet one of those combinations. If it doesn't, put it back in the oven and check again.
Sources
- Food Standards Agency, Cooking your food (time and temperature combinations), accessed 9 October 2026.
- GOV.UK, Food hygiene for businesses: cooking food safely (which meats must be cooked through), accessed 9 October 2026.
- Rise ranges and doneness targets: working kitchen figures from The Pass, as described above.