The Grocery Store Ground Beef Red Flag That Should Send You Running Every Time
Some things are just better kept at room temperature. When it comes to food specifically, plenty of dishes are best served at room temperature. (Ever eat a hot potato chip?) For cheese, certain flavors can be brought out when served at room temperature, which is why serving cheese fresh out of the fridge is a classic cheese board mistake. But one thing that should never be at room temperature, at least in the supermarket, is raw ground beef.
When you're at the supermarket looking for a package of ground beef to pick for your meatloaf (taking care to avoid this major meatloaf prep mistake), it's worth feeling the beef through the cellophane wrapping and making sure it's cool or cold to the touch. Bacteria thrive at room temperature, and if beef is left out at room temperature for too long, bacteria may end up multiplying. That's why raw meat should never be left out of the fridge for more than two hours, or one hour if it's hotter than 90 degrees Fahrenheit. If your grocery store meat feels room temperature or warm, something may be wrong with their refrigeration, and if that's the case, it's probably worth finding a different grocery store.
You don't have to let your ground beef come to room temperature before cooking
"But wait!" you cry. "We heard that you're supposed to let meat come to room temperature before cooking it! What's the big idea here, huh?" Well, settle down. There's actually a bit of debate as to whether or not letting meat come to room temperature has any effect on the cook time or efficacy. Chef-scientist Chris Young claims you should do it, while the famed J. Kenji López-Alt ran tests and thought the difference was negligible.
There are some arguments that, if you're browning ground beef in a skillet (for chili con carne, for instance, a popular dish to try a bit of Tex-Mex), it's a good idea to leave it at room temperature for 15 minutes to help keep the meat from gushing out juice as soon as it hits the pan. But if you're forming burger patties and grilling them, there's really no need to go to the trouble of letting your meat sit outside the fridge, as cold meat keeps its shape better. Besides, isn't it nice to know that the meat you eat won't give you some horrible foodborne illness?