Simply Recipes explains how to use fingers to test if meat is cooked (total BS)
In the expanding category of really bad food safety advice is this entry from Simply Recipes:
There are two basic methods to test for how done your meat is while you are cooking it - use a meat thermometer, or press on the meat with your finger tips. The problem with the meat thermometer approach is that when you poke a hole into the meat with a thermometer, it can let juices escape, juices that you would rather have stay in the meat. For this reason, most experienced cooks rely on a "finger test" method, especially on steaks (whole roasts are better tested with a thermometer).
For example, the story explains that to test for raw: Open the palm of your hand. Relax the hand. Take the index finger of your other hand and push on the fleshy area between the thumb and the base of the palm. Make sure your hand is relaxed. This is what raw meat feels like.
There’s more. This is what Johnny Cash and I think (below). Stick it in. Use a thermometer.
Thanks to another barfblog.com reader for the tip.
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/admin/trackback/154371
You imply that the method of testing the firmness of a steak is a poor indicator of food safety. I am interested to know why you believe this is so.
It is generally accepted that bacteria are only found on the external surfaces of a steak- so even a rare steak has received sufficient heat at the site of concern (the surface) to render it safe. Testing for 'doneness' of a steak is a completely different proposition to testing the cooking of a hamburger patty (or similar made from ground meat) where the use of a thermometer makes sense, because the site of concern is now in the centre of the product.