Storing food: the danger zone
When food is between 38°F and 140°F (4°C and 60°C) it's considered in the danger zone, and bacteria are growing on it quickly. USDA guidelines say that no longer than two hours in the danger zone is acceptable. This applies to anything that should be refrigerated, including raw meat and cooked food (leftovers). Additionally, if it's over 90F (32C), they reduce the guideline to just one hour.
Killing pathogens: cooking temperatures
When cooking meat, cook it to the recommended temperature for that particular kind of meat. See for example the USDA's temperatures for various meats. These are conservative guidelines, but they'll make you safe. The common ones:
- Poultry: 165°F (74°C)
- Pork: 145°F (63°C)
- Beef, veal, and lamb: 145°F (63°C)
- Ground beaf, veal, and lamb: 160°F (71°C)
Different meats have different potential hazards. Most bacteria is killed by heating it over 145°F (63°C), but some things are much harder to kill, so it's important to use the appropriate temperature for what you're cooking.
And of course, once it's cooked, there may be some things that survived, or are reintroduced to the food, so you still have to follow the two-hour danger zone rule above.
Toxins
Even if the bacteria is dead, toxins can remain if the food was out too long, causing problems. No matter how thoroughly you cook something, it won't make up for bad handling. (Also asked and answered here). For more details on killing bacteria and the hazards of the toxins they leave behind, see the many answers to this question.
Botulism
Botulism is anaerobic (it grows without oxygen) so it's often a concern for canned goods, or things suspended in oil (e.g. garlic in oil). Some further information from http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_fs.html (°C values added)
The majority (65%) of botulism cases are a result of inadequate home food processing or preservation (CDC 1998). Botulism results from ingestion of a toxin produced by the bacterium C. botulinum.
This bacterium requires a moist, oxygen-free environment, low acidity (pH greater than 4.6) and temperatures in the danger zone (38-140°F / 4-60°C) to grow and produce toxin. C. botulinum forms heat resistant spores that can become dangerous if allowed to germinate, grow, and produce toxin.
Sufficient heat can be used to inactivate the toxin (180°F / 82°C for 4 min., Kendall 1999). C. botulinum thrives in moist foods that are low in salt (less than 10%), particularly when they are stored at temperatures above 38°F / 4°C.
These organisms will not grow in an aerobic environment, but other aerobic organisms in a closed system can rapidly convert an aerobic environment to an anaerobic environment by using the oxygen for their own growth, permitting growth of C. botulinum.
Nowadays foodborne botulism kills about 10 to 30 people a year in the USA, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
When you're determining the doneness by time, you're doing it wrong :)
There are too many differences between individual fish to go just by weight, thickness, oven temperature, and time. The best way is to measure the internal temperature (stick a thermometer into the thickest part of the fillet); I like about 120 F (50 C) for salmon (carryover cooking raises the temperature a little higher after taking it out of the pan), but then it has to be good quality fish. You need to check early and often, because it can go from undercooked to overcooked fairly quickly. Now, like zanlok says, my experience is mostly with pan frying, and I'd expect using the oven would be a bit slower than using a pan because of slower heat transfer; so you should be a bit safer.
If you don't have a meat thermometer, an easy way to test fish for doneness is to look for translucency. Salmon can still be just a little translucent in the middle. Also, properly done fish flakes along the natural "seams". Another nice trick (which doesn't work for boneless fillets - sorry) is to find a bone in the thickest part of the fish: if it comes out fairly easily, then the connective tissues have mostly dissolved and it's done.
That leaves the temperature for your oven. I would go with very high - that way the fish gets the least possible time to dry out (which is going to be a big risk with this cooking method, I would think - unless you wrap your salmon in bacon or something like that). At a guess, I'd try 450 F (230 C).
Best Answer
No, you're not crazy. You have good taste. The reason for drinking darker beer like stouts and porters is for the flavor. If they are over-chilled, you lose most of that flavor. Don't obsess over it, but in general a lot of people serve dark beer too cold.
That said, you should drink your beer at whatever temperature makes you happy. There is nothing wrong with a nice cold pilsner or Hefe-wizen on a hot day.