New thermometers

W.DeBord

What is the brand of your thermometer? The more specific you are, the better we may be able to help.

Wendy,

If I may comment on these thermometer.

I say this from a purely proffesianal opinon.

I feel that (and I am not alone) peircing any meat as it roast will ultimatly leave you with a dry finished product. As protiens cook and change there chemical structure there is allot of activity going on iside that we cannot see. The blood is being forced to the center by the heat. To penatrate your roast at this time would just open a avenue for all of the blood and moisture to escape.

I believe in instant read thermometers, But only used to insure proper holding or storing of things.

I think that if someone has a basic guideline of cooking times and tempatures that they do not need this other thermometer.

I am positive that this was developed for ease and safty, But it will detrack from the overall quility of the finished product
cc

Wendy,
I do want to say that when I closed my post I did reconise that these devices are designed to minimize poor results and to help people. I am happy that this can help your Mom in the kitchen.

When you say slow roasting at lower temps and broiling at the end for color I am alittle confused (normal :)) First, cooking times and tempatures depend on the cut of meat. Example..you would not slow roast a filet mignon or a sirlion. This requiers fast , hot cooking.Bottom rounds,shoulders,eye rounds ETC, requier slow,long cooking times. as far as adding color at the end this really does not add a great deal of flavor and since the meat is already cooked, broiling would really just dry out the exterior of the meat. There are different opinons these days on searing,Regardless if it does in fact hold in the juices,it does add flavor and help to develope your fond in the pan for your sauce.

I am off to New york City so I will have to get back to you with more details (if you want)
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I am with Cape on this one, unless you want a dry product don't pierce the flesh till the very end.

To W.Debord in Chicagoland.

This is in response to your inquiry concerning the roasting of meat (an appropriate cut) at lower temperatures and then roasting at a high temperature to finish. According to noted cooking teacher, food consultant and research scientist Shirley Corriher in her book CookWise, she recommends that meat be slow-roasted at a low temperature until it is about 20 degrees F. below the desired internal finish temperature. The oven should then be turned up to 500 degrees F. for a quick surface browning while reaching final temperature.

According to Shirley: "I prefer the oven browning at the end, not the beginning of roasting." She explains, "[j]uices containing proteins and sugars have come to the surface during cooking, evaporated, and left a high concentration of proteins and sugars for fast browning." In other words, the slow-roasting avoids loss of liquids and preserves tenderness, while the high heat finish promotes flavor from the surface sugars and proteins.

As far as the "Alton Brown" thermometer, it is a Polder. I have used one for years and find it a great tool, especially for cooking meat. I have used it to measure temperatures while smoking brisket, pork butt (shoulder roast), etc., and for roasting chicken and turkey. Unlike an instant read thermometer, it may be left in the meat and the temperature may be easily read from the digital display outside the oven. I do not seem to notice moisture loss from using the probe. In fact, a significant cause of moisture loss is high cooking temperatures, i.e., see Shirley's book and an article by Chris Kimball, publisher of Cook's Illustrated where he measured weight loss of roasts cooked at various temperatures. The Polder thermometer is great for monitoring the internal temperature of a smoked pork butt, which needs to be in excess of 190 degrees F. to be "pullable" for pulled-pork. If you are worried about moisture loss, simply insert the probe later in the roasting process.

BTW, Alton's roast recipe was adapted from a recipe in CookWise. Alton attended New England Culinary Institute and he loves to use his Polder thermometer. Happy New Year and good roasting to you.

W.DeBord,

Why don't you try this recipe for fun and see what you think? Even though you don't broil it at the end because you don't have to...

Slow Roasted Sticky Chicken


Did you ever get the specifics on the brand?

Wendy, when I think of a thermometer in the meat, I think of those aluminum potato nails. Their purpose is to conduct heat to the center of the potato to cook it faster. I'd be leery that the heat would be conducted to the area directly around the probe in the meat and not give an accurate reading of the rest of a larger cut, such as a roast. Just my fevered, amateur brain at work.

Yes, the method is suited to roasting larger cuts of meat. The long and slow cooking process is useful in breaking down (tenderizing) connective tissue. For small, tender cuts, Shirley explains: "[y]ou want the internal temperature to remain low to keep this meat juicy and tender. So, whether you grill, broil, or pan-broil, if you remove a steak from the heat rare to medium-rare, you should have juicy, tender meat." In effect, the high heat of a grill will carmelize the exterior, but one must not cook the meat too long as it will become tough. Shirley says it well: "If you get the interior of the meat no hotter than 140 degrees F., medium-rare, lengthwise shrinkage of the muscle and major water loss are minmized." It is much easier to sear a steak or tender cut over high heat than to attempt to cook it slowly and then carmelize the exterior with high heat.

Most slow cooking methods for small cuts of fowl or fish will not result in a carmelized exterior, e.g., poaching and steaming. Small cuts of meat, can overcook quickly. You may cook these cuts on low heat to the proper internal temperature, but you do so at the expense of a carmelized exterior.

I don't know whether there are two "camps", but each roasting method attempts to obtain the benefits of the "Maillard reaction", i.e., a carmelized exterior. Perhaps you are right that there has not been a lot of thought given to the subject, after all, most of cook and do not give much thought to the "science" behind it (me included). :)

Happy cooking.

I believe Shirley's method is limited to large "roasting" cuts and is not applicable to small, tender cuts. I would think that it would be very easy to overcook a steak which has been pre-heated/cooked at a low temperature, held and then fired with high heat. Since the meat would already be warm, the high heat would be rapidly conducted to the interior resulting in a tough and dry piece of meat. Perhaps an experienced chef would say otherwise.

the need of a thermometer

I love the thermometer and i use it very often. Especially in school i temped everything all the time to learn how things looked and feeled like in different temperatures.

It’s the temperature and not the time that will tell you when your meat, fish and egg things are ready.

I don’t agree with Cape Chef and Nicko telling you not to pierce anything to prevent the juice bleeding out. If your poduct ends up dry, you have cooked it wrong. E.g. your big steak have probably been into a too hot owen, which means that A LOT of juice goes away as steam, or you have overcooked it, which is easy if you don’t use a thermomether, which means the cells can’t hold the water any longer.

Learn about what happens inside the meat, read about cells and proteins. Learn about heat, temperature and time and you will improve your cooking dramatically! Go for an up to date book in fod science and learn the physics and chemistry behind your roastbeef!

And remember, be critical to what you read and hear about the cookings ’how’ and ’why’ in recipes. There are no area of knowledge that are so dependent as ours upon old ’wisdoms’ and generation to genaration based knowledge.