How long can I hold med rare beef in a cooler?

I can't tell you exactly how an eye of round will raise in temp being wrapped in a cooler for 30 mins, but I can guess. So I ate Christmas dinner at my parents and they bought a big beef tenderloin. They wanted it medium'ish (the term they used) so I brought a probe and told them to putll it off the grill at 130, which they did but I didn't know that they would need to rest it for 40mins because some of the other food was behind. So they wrapped it in foil and put it in a cooler bag. When it came out it was almost well done :doh:.

So that being said my guess would be to take it off before 125. Maybe 120ish. Just a guess though and maybe some others will have some input.

at 30 minutes i would not worry about a cooler. at 4 lbs it will just be cool enough to slice if you foil it will continue to cook. 30 minutes is nothing andwill still be hot

Believe the cooler/time period aspect is the relative time available which can rest above 140 degrees.

Having medium rare meats (below 140*) resting longer than 1 hour... sounds likely be a food-safety issue.

I'd take it off at 120, double wrap with HD foil, wrap a towel around that, toss it in the cooler and be on my way. I wouldn't take it off any higher than 120 based on your desired doneness **IF** you are roasting it at high temperatures a la pit-beef style that is. The radiant heat from the outter meat will continue to cook the meat more if you are at a high temp to start with. If you are cooking it a low temperature this will be somewhat diminished. This is just my personal experience.

I did a brisket for Christmas dinner, I took it off at midnight (Internal temp 160) the night before dinner a 2:00pm the next day.. Plastic wrapped, foiled and wrapped in 2 towels, placed into a cooler. When I went to slice it at 1 pm it was still hot enough that I had a little bit of a time holding it with bare hands... maybe 100-115 degrees... It may have been the best brisket I have ever cooked.... moist and tender and it seemed like the rub seeped into the meat alot more...I think this is going to be the norm with my briskets from now on.

I sliced it and returned it to a pan with fresh made beef broth made from the drippings, carrot, celery, onion with frozen reserved beef bones simmered for 10 hours... into a 200 degree oven till 2:00pm it was gone in 10 minutes... my moms ham and turkey was hardley touched.... ooops! sorry mom!

i would say it would not be rare for more that about 10 minutes from what I found out with this cook...

I did a 12lb rib-eye roast to 134 degrees and put it in a cooler for 3 hours wrapped in foil and towels. Came out hot and perfect! Rare to Med rare