thermometers in cooking [General]

2009 Apr 15
the topic of using a thermometer in cooking came up in a separate thread on making yogurt. i am curious what other people use the thermometer to test in their cooking (besides meat).

i am not a good bread baker, nor do i have a decent pan, so i always use a thermometer to tell me when my bread is done. since i started doing that it has never proven me wrong.

for a quick cheese bread recipe i cook it to 190F, testing from the bottom of the loaf. i can no longer recall where i found this information.

what do other people do?

2009 Apr 15
What temp for bread? Good idea - never thought of that.

I use it for getting exactly the right temp for proofing my yeast for bread. I get the honey and water mixture to 40C and then pitch the yeast.

2009 Apr 15
Bread baking - yeast proof & doneness
Meat
No candy making...

2009 Apr 15
p.s. some simple experimentation with your microwave and a known volume of water with a known amount of honey (or sugar if you use it), and you'll know exactly how many seconds it takes to get precisely the temp you want. So you can pull a Ron Popiel : "set it, and forget it". Beats the heck out of hanging over the stove with a thermometer ...

2009 Apr 15
Oh! Almost forgot, I use an oven thermometer for ultra accurate baking temps. My oven is pretty close to being perfectly calibrated, but not EXACT...

2009 Apr 15
HipFunkyFun - I of course use a Meat Thermometer when cooking roasts, sometimes one for Candy... but I'm thinking I should invest in an Oven Thermometer as my oven seems to be "off" a bit lately.

2009 Apr 15
Hmmm, I've never used a thermometer for checking bread and I have had the occasional issue with doneness, both yeast and quickbreads, but it's been a while since that has been an issue. It's been a long long time since I temp'd my yeast. I do use it for the yogurt, meat, and a bit of candy-making and the rare deep-frying I've done.
While reading above I thought about thermometers and breadmaking and remembered (an all-too-seldom occurence unless it's food-related!) something I had read recently on the subject and had saved: in a comment by breadchick at bakingbites.com

breadchick: "200 F is good for white breads but whole wheat/whole grain breads will still be slightly gooey at 200F in the center. 205 - 210 is better for these breads. For sweet breads you really only want 190 degrees as if you wait to 200, you will over cook them and make them tough."

I can't vouch for her numbers as I haven't read it elsewhere and I don't practice it.

2009 Apr 15
I use a thermometer for meat, sometimes for candy making, some buttercream icing recipes and for the liquids for yeast breads. I have checked one bread for doneness using a thermometer as this was mentioned specifically in the recipe. It was a chocolate babka and checking the temperature made the difference between heavenly tasting and looking versus gooey but tasty and ugly. Rose Levy Berenbaum uses temperatures frequently in her instructions.

2009 Apr 16
I use one for oil temperature when frying, and an instant read one for meats. I occasionally check my oven temperature to see if it's accurate, so far so good.

2009 Apr 21
Not in cooking per-se, but I just had this happen.

Earlier today I noticed the fridge freezer in the basement had been hanging open, and I knew at the time it must have been from when I was in it 10 minutes prior. So I was not too concerned about anything having thawed in that time.

Just now I noticed an unopened package of meatless chicken nuggets on the floor. Crap! BTW, they were a freebie trial from our food coop - I didn't buy them. Anyway, my wife was going to toss them in the garbage but I hauled out the thermometer and stuck it into a few of them. The highest temp was 10C which is still fridge temp. Many of them were 7C.

So we're heating up the oven right now and are going to cook them right away :-) No need to toss them out.

2009 Apr 22
i have taken to leaving my instant read thermometer on the counter and i can't help but check the temp of things just for interest sake.

2009 Apr 22
HFF - don't be playing Dr. with your food!