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Q. “My family does a prime rib every Christmas. We struggle with it actually being medium rare despite the thermometer reading 130° F. What are we doing wrong?” —Larry, Kaukauna

A. First, let’s discuss desired internal cooking temperatures for meats. If we consider 140° F as a baseline for medium, 15 degrees less is 125° F for medium rare and 15 degrees more is 155° F for medium well. That should get us very close to where we want to be. Most customers order prime rib medium rare, and when cooked to 125° F they seem happy but if it creeps to 130° F some may feel it is beyond medium rare. Next, let’s consider the concept of carry-over cooking. Carry-over cooking is the continuation of the cooking process in meats and other foods after they have been removed from the heat source. Carry-over cooking is what can take a perfectly cooked product to an overcooked product because the food product will not abruptly stop cooking. Carry-over cooking can be anywhere from 5 to 10 degrees, based on the grill or oven temperature at which the meat was being cooked. For that reason, a product like prime rib should be pulled from the heat at 115° F to 120° F to allow for carry-over cooking.