to not care what the f&^€\~g probe says?

[SizzlelessSausage]

NC'd as I've spoken to friends about this and so will probably out me.

Last week was my birthday. By some coincidence, both parents and my brother and I were off work and so went to a local "exclusive" hotel/spa for brunch as a treat.

All of us ordered full English breakfasts with teas, OJ, toast etc.

Our drinks arrived, our toast arrived, our breakfasts arrived. The boy's pork sausages (not a punn!) were an even "cooked" colour all the way through. Breakfasts were very nice.

My mother and I had sausages with a distinct pink uncooked looking "ring" through the centre. When we brought this to the attention of our waitress, she informed us that "all meat is checked with the probe so it is ok"
Erm, no.
We sent our food back. We were asked if we wanted our meal "kept warm" whilst the sausages were being replaced... OMG how disgusting would the eggs have been? Erm, again, no.

Second meal arrived.
My father and brother had finished eating.
I had also eaten toast.
Oh good god the sausages on this plate are even more raw.
Again we informed the waitress.
Again we were told "the probe says they're cooked"
Again I said that the meat was clearly not cooked.

I picked at the food. I was made to feel like o as in the wrong for not eating this awful raw pork. My parents were trying to treat me and I felt horrible for them.

They offered us 10% off the bill
Then they removed the cost of 1 of the breakfasts. I had to politely and firmly fight for this too, all the while being told about the chuffing probe.

I contacted the hotel and emailed my complaint to them on Monday 28th
They acknowledged my email on Wednesday 30th
They still have not got back to me.

I am furious. AIBU to expect that this supposed 5* hotel would provide either 4 plates of identically cooked foods.
Or admit their mistake and correct it
Or grovel and make it right.

I have been left feeling like I was being very U but I am so so angry. My dad was trying to do something lovely and I felt awful going off for a discrete word with the manager and then spending 15 minutes explaining to her that the probe may read the correct temperature but it reads the temp of the end, and if it's not in the centre of the meat and for long enough then it's mute.

Please I would appreciate some perspective/advice.

Look at my sausages!

Moot

Sorry but I just couldn't get that annoyed about a sausage

I'd be angry myself and want some kind of answer.
If their chef can't cook sausages and relies on the temperature shown on a probe (which evidently isn't working properly/being used properly) it begs the question of how well cooked the rest of their menu would be, chicken for example.

I wonder if you'd eaten it and then got food poisoning if they'd pay more attention.

If you get no where with them I would flag it with your local food hygiene standards agency.

For some you will be seen as being unreasonable but as someone who has been hospitalized due to undercooked food in a restaurant I don't think you are.

Perspective: get some.

This level of anger is not normal.

It was a crappy breakfast experience, they gave you some money off (quite rightly). What more do you want? A five course dinner for you all?

Maid, I want an apology. That's all. I wouldn't say no to a full refund but wouldn't accept a meal there because I wouldn't trust their cooking.

I have also been poison d by undercooked food before, maybe that's why I'm so cross.

Perhaps I am being unreasonably angry but how can a chef not be able to cook a sausage without a gizmo to tell them? It was not a cheap meal.

Furious?

Why not just write a shitty review on trip advisor like all other nobs who struggle with going perspective?

Those sausages look ok to me.

The issue is safety vs aesthetics.

You will find that if you cook sausages with the help of an accurate calibrated thermometer, used carefully, they will look raw compared to what you're used to. Sausages are definitely safe at 70C and almost certainly so at 65C, maybe even a but lower, but most people will be used to them having been cooked to a higher temperature and kept there for longer. Here's a past discussion:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/food_and_recipes/119878-quick-help-sausages

The discussion you should have had is that you'd like them a bit more cooked because you're paying and that's how you like them, and in a 5* hotel you get to call the shots. And even as a fan of rare meat I'd not be wild about the sausages in that photograph. But I suspect they were perfectly safe, which makes the complaint you're making slightly different.

As a more general point, I avoid sausages in cook-to-order breakfasts. They're at their best cooked to a safe temperature and then kept warm, so they are at the same temperature all the way through. Cooking them and then serving them means they're either underdone in the centre or overdone at the edges.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/food_and_recipes/119878-quick-help-sausages

To be clear all this angst is about a sausage?

I wouldn't touch undercooked pork sausages with a 10ft bargepole. Beef, not such a problem, ditto lamb - but pork? No.

YANBU to be pissed off.

4 sausages to be precise Moving!

Ok, let's say that I accept the previously mentioned "perfectly cooked pork may appear less cooked than it is at home" notion... Surely all 4 portions/8 sausages should have appeared identical then? And no, it's not to do with the resting period as we all cut out meat at similar times.

Oh well if it's four...

I think the OP is more concerned about the spoiled family outing than anything and I can understand that. But, with the wisdom of hindsight, it might have been better just to leave the sausage and eat the rest.

FWIW, I wouldn't have eaten that sausage either - it doesn't look properly cooked to me.

So if your son's sausages were cooked through & not pink, why couldn't they manage the same for you?

Even if they were safe to eat, they don't look it imo!

Former chef here, we had to take handmade artisan sausages off out menu before because as a meat dense sausage not a sausage with added grains the meat stayed a meat/pork colour ie pink. Even at 75 degrees, bunged in an oven or microwaved. Venison sausage was removed from menu also due to its colour when fully cooked.
OP you had the price of the returned meal refunded to me that was fair. Of you feel it was dangerous the ring EHO and let them know. Any good restaurant/cafe woukd prefer you to do that so as to make sure they are free from dangerous practice

I wouldn't have eaten that.

I had a pork burger once and it was basically raw in the middle. Showed the waitress 'oh, it comes like that' Well it shouldn't!

I get it ruined a nice meal out OP, you had crap food and crap service. So annoying when places can't just do what they are meant to.

I had a pork burger once and it was basically raw in the middle. Showed the waitress 'oh, it comes like that' Well it shouldn't!

The position today is that trichinellosis shouldn't be an issue in the UK food chain, and therefore that rare pork is OK from a safety point of view. It's up to you as to whether you believe it, but even the usually paranoid Americans (whose idea of "rare" is "not quite as overcooked") have recently dropped their pork temperature guidance by 10 degrees.