How To Properly Taste Meat Mixtures Without Making Yourself Sick

When we say "meat mixtures," we mean mixtures of ground beef, pork, and turkey that you usually make for hamburgers, meatballs, meatloaf, and other meat-based dishes. While the process of making these mixtures isn't too hard, considering it's basically mashing ground meat with seasonings and fillings with your bare hands, there's one thing you can't do: taste it.

Unlike cake batter or homemade sauces, you can't exactly taste your raw meatloaf or hamburger meat to see if it tastes the way you expect. First, unlike cookie dough or brownie batter, no one's going to be pushing each other over to lick the raw ground beef from a spoon or a whisk. Second, the combination of raw meat and eggs in your mixture prevents you from doing it even if you want to. While it is very rare to get salmonella from eating raw eggs and equally as rare to get e.coli from exposure to raw meat according to the American Meat Institute, consuming raw meat and eggs together could lead to cases of food poisoning — an unpleasant experience all the same.

The problem then is this: How can you taste your raw meatloaf or meatball mixture without getting sick from it? If you must taste it, are there any guidelines or steps to take to ensure that even the smallest piece of the mixture can be eaten safely?

If you're making some meatloaf and find that you're not sure if it needs more sage or chopped onion, you're not going to enjoy a spoonful right out of the bowl. You can't just dump the ingredients in any way, since you have no idea what it tastes like. You're stuck in a paradox of being unsure to add ingredients because you can't (or don't) want to taste the raw meat mixture. The easiest solution to being able to taste it without getting sick or wasting any meat is something that you were going to do anyway: cook it.

To taste your meat mixture, simply take a spoonful of your meat and put it into a skillet, forming the meat into a patty. Fry this patty in the same way you would cook a hamburger, cooking it until golden brown on both sides. Once the meat patty is done, you can safely consume it and see if the mixture needs something else. In the event you can't use a skillet, you can put a small spoonful of the mixture into the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds.

While this may be a bit time-consuming, microwaving or frying individual pieces of meat until you get the taste just right, we can all agree that it's at least a lot better than having to swallow some raw meat — along with your pride.

Raw meat, when mixed with eggs, spices, and seasonings, may not look too appetizing for the average dinner. But raw meat can be enjoyed as a delicacy, should you want to try it — but there are some certain rules you must abide by first.

To start off, it's highly suggested that you find a reputable place to get your meat from. The better the source, such as a quality butcher, the safer your meat will be to eat raw. Cheap meat from an untrustworthy origin may lead to you getting sick, even if you don't eat it raw. You must also keep your meat cold and eat it chilled, rather than consuming it at room temperature. Room-temperature raw meat may be a source of disease, as bacteria can flourish on its surface while it sits out in the open. You should also keep your cooking area as clean as possible — common sense advice obviously, but a sanitized work area lowers the risk of any germs getting on your raw meat.

Obviously, consuming raw meat isn't for everyone. It's like eating sushi, which is basically raw fish. So long as the meat is clean, reputably sourced, and prepared in a responsible way, a bit of raw beef certainly wouldn't hurt anyone.