Foolproof Cooking with One Simple Tool

Have you ever spent a half hour decoding a weight and time chart that promise to help you perfectly roast that $100 prime rib, only to discover, a few hours later when guests arrive that the only person with teeth strong enough to cut through the dry, overcooked boulder in the kitchen is the family dog?

The problem is, the size and shape of the roast, the specific cooking qualities of your oven, the temperature of your refrigerator, heck, even the amount of fat in the meat can all affect the cooking time, making those time vs. weight charts at best, an unreliable guide, and at worst, outright wrong.

The secret to perfectly cooked meat is internal temperature. Cook a piece of beef--Any piece of beef, whether it's a NY strip steak, a cheap eye-round roast, or a premium Wagyu tenderloin--to 130 degrees, and you've hit medium rare, whether you're cooking in your modern convection oven, a skillet on the stovetop, or an open flame on a camping trip.
So how do you guarantee that you've hit the temperature sweet spot? There's only one sure way: a meat thermometer.

Here are some basic tips on how to use them effectively:

- Always take the temperature of your meat in the thickest part of the roast--the part which heats up the slowest. For steaks and chops, it's best to hold the steak with a pair of tongs while inserting the meat thermometer from the side, to ensure that the very center of the chop is registered.
 
- Remember that meat will continue to cook after you remove it from the heat source as it rests (you do rest your meat after cooking, right?). For small steaks and chops, expect their internal temperature to rise by about 5 degrees. For large roasts, expect a 10-15 degree temperature increase.
 
- Avoid leave-in-the-meat remote probe thermometers. The probes themselves can conduct heat to the center of the meat, giving you a temperature reading that is higher than it should be.
 
- An analog dial-faced thermometer or cheap digital thermometer like the CDN Pro-accurate Quick Read Thermometer ($16.95) will work reasonably well, but an instant-read thermometer, such as the Splash-Proof Super-Fast Thermapen by Thermoworks ($96) gives fast, accurate readings in a matter of seconds, allowing you to get in and out of the oven faster. At $96, they are not cheap, but it's a small price to pay to never eat an over-cooked roast again.
 
- Look for thermometers with a wide temperature range for maximum versatility. The Thermapen gives accurate measurements from -58 degrees Fahrenheit all the way up to 572 degrees, which means that you can use it for everything from checking if your cheesecake has set, to whether your oil is hot enough to drop in your French fries.
 
- Avoid models that have pre-set temperature alarms for different types of meats--these settings are invariably too high, and will give you badly overcooked results--precisely what a thermometer is designed to prevent!
 
- Check your thermometers calibration at least once a month by submerging it in a glass of ice water. If it doesn't read close to 32 degrees, it needs to be recalibrated, following the manufacturer's instructions.


The following chart gives temperature readings for various types of meat:
 
Beef, lamb, duck, goose, or other red meat roasts or chops:
    •    120 degrees and below: rare (red center)
    •    130 degrees: medium-rare (rosy red center)
    •    140 degrees: medium-well (light pink center)
    •    150 degrees and above: well done (gray center)
 
Chicken, turkey, Cornish hens, or other white meat fowl
    •    Breasts: 160 degrees
    •    Legs and thighs: 180 degrees
 
Pork roasts or chops:
    •    135 degrees: medium-rare (rosy pink center, moist)
    •    145 degrees and above: medium-well to well done (white center, tending towards dry)
 
Salmon, Swordfish, Tuna, or other fish served medium-rare to medium
    •    100 degrees and below: rare (sushi-like center)
    •    115 degrees: medium rare (translucent, warm center)
    •    125 degrees: medium (opaque center, still moist)
    •    135 degrees and above: well done (opaque center, verging on dry and chalky)

What's your favorite kitchen tool for foolproof cooking? Share your thoughts below.

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