Getty ImagesMelanie Acevedo
If you want to make a great piece of meat, it takes a controlled cooking phase and precision instruments. The formula is simple but highly technical:
Stability of oven temperature + accuracy of time applied = internal temperature of the meat, which is the only guide to doneness.
This is as naked as cooking gets. But there’s a large obstacle in your way: temperature variations in an oven that’s not probably calibrated. (You’d be surprised how many aren’t.) Most ovens run hot and cold: You turn the dial to 375 F and the oven heats to whatever temperature it feels like. Or you have “hot” spots where the temp varies as much as 50F.
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Recipes are designed to work at specific temperatures, so one easy way to improve your cooking is to install an oven thermometer that stays in the oven.
Stainless steel, spring-action oven thermometers are factory-calibrated for accuracy and have a two-way base design, to either stand flat or hang from above or below an oven rack. The spring expands as the oven heats up and moves the pointer on the face of the dial until the oven is the proper temperature.
TIP: How to tell a good oven thermometer:
• Analog face with dial measuring in the 200 to 500 F. range,
• the numbers form a high contrast against the background (like black against white), and
• the pointer doesn’t rattle when tapped and is an easy-to-read contrasting color (like bright red).
Place the thermometer in the center of the oven and preheat for at least twenty-five minutes before adjusting the oven controls to get the temperature specified in the recipe. (For example, in an oven that runs cool, you might have to set your oven to 400F in order to get the thermometer to read 350F. This varies from oven to oven.) For bakers, oven temperature is even more vital. Test temps in each quadrant of your oven (back and front, left and right) to find your “hot spots.” This will let you know if you have to rotate pans while cooking, to avoid a roast chicken that’s brown on one end and raw on the other.
There are several dependable models available:
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Once you get your oven calibrated with your oven thermometer, you need to test the internal doneness of meat itself, using an instant-read meat thermometer—preferably with digital probe and large read-out. Hands down, the best one you will find is the superlative Classic Super-fast Thermapen.
There are other brands that mimic the design, but there is only one company producing this amazingly accurate instrument. Powered by a 12-volt battery, the geeky Thermapen has a bright, clear digital read-out and remarkable temperature range (-50°F to 572°F). Unfolding the rigid stainless steel probe switches the instrument on; if you should forget to fold it back again, the Thermapen will automatically shut itself off after five minutes to save the battery.
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It's scary fast— technical response time is 0.6 seconds, or 3 seconds divided by five, with 99% accuracy—and has a unique thermocouple (electronic temperature sensor) that requires only about a 1/8-inch insertion to get accurate readings for anything from a thin skirt steak to a hulking rib roast. And when you need to have your Thermapen recalibrated, you can do it directly though their return program.
TIP: Periodically check the precision on any instant-read thermometer by holding the stem in boiling water for about 20 seconds. Assuming you are at sea level, the thermometer should register 212F. (Deduct 1F for every 500 feet above sea level.)
If the original Thermapen is too pricey, the company also makes a super-fast lightweight digital thermometer probe, which you’ll find in the breast pocket of chef coats all over the country.
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To use: Depending upon shape and thickness, meat varies in internal temperature throughout the cut. Insert probe in thickest part (avoiding bone if there is one).
Don’t Forget To Let It Rest
Because the internal temperature of meat can to rise as much as 10 degrees during the resting period before carving, most chefs call for a minimal cooking time to produce the minimal internal-temperature reading required for a specified degree of doneness. For example, a reading of 115F to 125 F when you pull it out of the oven should produce finished temperature within the rare range, 120 F to 130F. Always err on the side of undercooking. You can’t cook it less.
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