Cooking Temperatures

For steaks I use a touch test. I know what a medium rare steak is supposed to feel like when touched. I am a neophyte at baking so I follow directions and bake at the recommended temperature. When we smoke meat. sausage. chickens or anything else we monitor the temperature closely. Easy to do since G has an electric smoker with a remote thermostat/temperature control. He monitors the smoker from his recliner then brags to his Buds about how hard he worked smoking whatever. Love that man. I have learned to judge doneness of meat products from either touch or appearance. For casseroles I set a prescribed temperature and a timer. Temperature is not something I have ever given a lot of thought to. I mostly just wing it.
 
Anything I cook on the hob is cooked to how I like it. The first time I cook anything in the oven that I haven't cooked before, be it meat, poultry or veggie dishes, I usually try it the first time by following the recipe or pack instructions, but often these instructions go out of the window. I usually only give oven temperatures in the recipes I post purely as a guide because all ovens are different. In fact, quite a few of my older cookery books give no oven temperatures at all, especially the Greek and Indian ones as a lot of the food was cooked on an open fire. I got quite used to judging doneness with my old fan only oven, but the new one (the American Whirlpool, made in Korea one!) can be used as a traditional or a fan oven and is completely different. It also has a turbo oven, which confuses me no end. For most foods I used a hot oven (200-220 C) or a moderate oven (170-180 C). Delia Smith said in one of her cookery shows, it doesn't matter what oven temperature you use, just cook the food until it is done, and demonstrated this by cooking a chicken at 240 C! I often use this temperature for the first 20-30 minutes when cooking a joint that is fatty, particularly lamb.

I like my meat and poultry well done so it falls apart when you stick a knife in it. Although I've got a meat thermometer, I usually test the doneness with a sharp knife for meat etc and a wooden skewer for cakes etc. The only exceptions to this are venison and wild duck, both of which should be slightly underdone. A Vietnamese friend of ours eats chicken cooked to the point of being more or less warm but otherwise raw, and there are plenty of Japanese fish and chicken dishes which are eaten raw. Not to my taste at all. The thought makes me feel quite ill.

Nowadays a lot of people recommend that you freeze or hang raw meat, fish and poultry for a few days before thawing and cooking, as this gets rid of any "nasties" that may lurk in fresh meat. This especially applies to any minced meat. I know someone who cooked some freshly caught fish for a dinner party, and there were worms in it, which made everyone at the party who ate fish feel quite ill. A local fishmonger said that is why their fish is always chilled first and that in a domestic environment the fish should have been frozen. Coincidentally, a lot of people feed their cats and dogs raw meat these days, and are advised that meat should always be frozen, then thawed. I always freeze raw meat and poultry for a few days before giving them to my cats and my dog. I don't particularly like the smell of fresh meat while it is being cooked.
 
Most of the time I just go by instinct, but for special occasions or if its an expensive joint of meat I'll use my food thermometer to make sure. I have a reference table stuck to the inside one of the cupboard doors:

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flyinglentris said:
One thing that has not been considered in this thread yet is temperature control for baked goods.
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I use a thermometer to check cakes. Once its at the bounce-back-when-pressed stage I'll double check with the thermometer. Especially if its a rich chocolate cake because that one often feels cooked when pressed but is still raw inside. I find using the thermometer is more reliable than a cocktail stick/skewer because you can tell if its way off or nearly there, so less opening the oven door and less risk of overcooked cake.
 
MrsDangermouse said:
Most of the time I just go by instinct, but for special occasions or if its an expensive joint of meat I'll use my food thermometer to make sure. I have a reference table stuck to the inside one of the cupboard doors:

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I use a thermometer to check cakes. Once its at the bounce-back-when-pressed stage I'll double check with the thermometer. Especially if its a rich chocolate cake because that one often feels cooked when pressed but is still raw inside. I find using the thermometer is more reliable than a cocktail stick/skewer because you can tell if its way off or nearly there, so less opening the oven door and less risk of overcooked cake.
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I have my Mum's old cooking thermometer which was bought in the 1960s or early 1970s, and one that I bought a couple of years ago. The only temperature that is the same on both of them and your list is the one for rare beef.
 
Elawin said:
I have my Mum's old cooking thermometer which was bought in the 1960s or early 1970s, and one that I bought a couple of years ago. The only temperature that is the same on both of them and your list is the one for rare beef.
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Interesting. What are the temperatures on yours?
 
Now that you bring it up, just about the only meat I don't check for temperature is steak. Doneness is a function of look and feel for me. I prefer steak medium-rare, as does my wife, but the rest of her family are bacteria obsessed lunatics who always want "well done" (if there were ever a more extreme misnomer, I can't think of it).

Lesser steakhouses always overcook my steak. Better ones delay the entire meal waiting for for this travesty to be done. My sister-in-law does this to filet. Filet! Once, she told the waiter, "just butterfly it and burn it". Needless to say, we don't go out for steak with them anymore.

Seafood is a bit different, too. I'd never dream of using a temperature probe for a fish. Scallops and other shellfish have their own visual cues that indicate doneness.
 
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The Late Night Gourmet said:
Now that you bring it up, just about the only meat I don't check for temperature is steak. Doneness is a function of look and feel for me. I prefer steak medium-rare, as does my wife, but the rest of her family are bacteria obsessed lunatics who always want "well done" (if there were ever a more extreme misnomer, I can't think of it).

Lesser steakhouses always overcook my steak. Better ones delay the entire meal waiting for for this travesty to be done. My sister-in-law does this to filet. Filet! Once, she told the waiter, "just butterfly it and burn it". Needless to say, we don't go out for steak with them anymore.

Seafood is a bit different, too. I'd never dream of using a temperature probe for a fish. Scallops and other shellfish have their own visual cues that indicate doneness.
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I'm totally with you on this one!
 
Elawin said:
Delia Smith said in one of her cookery shows, it doesn't matter what oven temperature you use, just cook the food until it is done,
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Wow! I totally disagree with this. I think controlling temperature has an enormous effect on final results. And I am always very conscious about how I proceed in terms of both temp and time. That's why we can talk about overcooking and undercooking, cardboard tasting and shoe leather. Consider a math problem where you calculate the rate of expiration of water from a 2 inch Collette steak. Does water expire from the steak at the same rate for every temperature and how much water will be left for each state of done for every possible temperature used. Just how juicy will that steak be?
 
Elawin said:
Nowadays a lot of people recommend that you freeze or hang raw meat, fish and poultry for a few days before thawing and cooking
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That's certainly within the temperature discussion. And again it bears on food safety. I always thought that freezing was a measure for preserving food. And I do know that freezing can effect flavor in a negative direction. And I have seen meat turn brown while frozen. I prefer to do beef, pork and poultry fresh and not previously frozen. Seafood, I have never seen flavor suffer from freezing.

I also understand that some pathogens cannot be killed by freezing, only by thorough cooking.

Oddly enough there is one non-meat item that I freeze to kill something - rice. I have on occasion, purchased white rice and when pouring it into the pot noticed that the dry rice seeds are stuck together, tethered together by silky threads. The culprit is midge fly larvae. They will die by freezing the rice. Of course, you will still get some added protein with that rice, regardless. The truth is that you'll kill whatever you fear in meats, but it's remains will still be cooked up, again, regardless. That is, unless you see the little critters and physically remove them or toss the meat.
 
The strange case of boiling an egg? Consider soft boiled or hard boiled, 3 minute egg or longer? Boiling is 212F - or is it? The higher the altitude the less is the temperature required to bring pure water to a boil. This is because of lower pressure at high altitude. What happens to a 3 minute egg at 10,000 ft. up if boiled just at the temperature where water comes to a boil? How soft will it be?

Maybe that's why I always boil water at 275F.
 
Does anyone else use something like this?

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I find it essential when frying a turkey: stick the probe in, carefully lower the beast into the medieval anti-siege device, and then monitor the temperature from a safe distance with an app on your phone. I've only used it once for large things in the oven, and it's flawless. Normally, however, I just use this since it's quick and easy to use:

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