You may come across directions like cook the chicken till the internal temperature is 165°F or fried the fish in oil prepared to 375°F while browsing through your cookbook collection or the internet in search of recipes or cooking guidance.
Furthermore, you could think to yourself, I’ve been doing very decent job in the kitchen without specific temperatures. What role does a thermometer play in making me a better cook? “Do I really need a thermometer?” you might wonder.
Owning a meat thermometer is not about being picky or fussy; rather, it is about aiming for quality and safety in practically everything you do in the kitchen.
If you are concerned about your health or about the taste of your food, then you really do need a fast and accurate digital thermometer in your kitchen to keep track of the temperatures.
Thermometers for Food Safety
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year, about one in every six Americans (or 48 million people) becomes ill, 128,000 are hospitalised, and 3,000 die as a result of foodborne infections, and you don’t want to be one of them.
By carefully checking the temperature of your food during the cooking process, you may significantly reduce your risk of contracting a foodborne disease. It is a proven truth. The USDA advises a 7-log10 reduction in the number of germs in order to reduce the risk of illness.
This signifies that 99.99999 percent of the microorganisms have been eliminated from the environment. This necessitates the use of certain temperatures for specific periods of time.
Unless you are Superman and can detect interior temperatures with your eyes, you will need to use a thermometer to determine whether or not your baked chicken breast is safe to consume after baking. By pushing on the flesh, you will not be able to detect microorganisms!
Most likely, you’ve been overcooking your meal, which has resulted in the overcooked taste.
Thermometers for Food Quality
Take, for example, chicken breasts. According to the USDA, chicken is safe to consume provided it is cooked to a temperature of—gasp!—157°F (69°C) for 34 seconds and then cooled to room temperature. That is far lower than the sawdust-texture temperature of 165°F (74°C).
As a result, it is guarantee that a chicken cooked to this temperature is significantly more juicy and delicious than a chicken cooked to 165°F (74°C), and, as validated by the USDA, it is just as safe!
Food can be cooked to a temperature that is agreeable, but that the margins of enjoyment can be quite narrow.
When steak is cooked to a flawless medium rare, the temperature should be 130-135 degrees Fahrenheit (54-57 degrees Celsius), whereas steak cooked to medium is 135 degrees Fahrenheit (57 degrees Celsius), and medium well is 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
See how those buttocks are pressed up against one another? It is for this reason that you require a thermometer.
If you want a perfectly medium rare steak, or if you want your steak medium, you only have a small range of temperatures within which to remove it from the flame. When it comes to getting things just right, guessing is simply not an option.
Why do you need a digital thermometer?
Digital thermometers provides the following benefits
- Range
- Accuracy
- Speed
