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Cooking meat and poultry to that perfect state of "simply right" is not as elusive equally information technology sounds. While judging doneness past await and feel is an uncertain fine art at best, it is actually pretty easy to become peachy results all the fourth dimension when you use an instant-read thermometer. A thermometer is the only reliable way to measure internal temperature. Have a few minutes to commit these temperatures to retentiveness or jot them downward in a identify near where you keep your thermometer.

Meat Temperatures

At what temperature is chicken and turkey washed?

To take the temperature of a whole craven or turkey, insert the thermometer straight down into the thickest part of the breast near the backbone and straight down into the thigh, taking care non to striking the bone (which can cause an wrong reading). If you lot're cooking chicken parts, stuffed chicken or ground craven, insert the thermometer probe into the thickest part to take the temperature.

Chicken breast: 165 degrees F

Chicken thigh: 165 to 175 degrees F

Stuffed chicken: 165 degrees F

Ground chicken: 170 to 175 degrees F

At what temperature is beefiness and lamb done?

Insert the thermometer probe into the thickest function of the meat to take the temperature, taking care to avert any bones if there are whatsoever.

Rare: 125 degrees F + three minutes of resting time

Medium rare: 130 to 135 degrees F

Medium: 135 to 140 degrees F

Medium well: 140 to 150 degrees F

Well done: 155+ degrees F

At what temperature is pork done?

Insert the thermometer into the thickest function of the meat to accept the temperature, taking care to avoid any bones if at that place are any.

Medium rare: 145 degrees F + 3 minutes rest

We roasted chickens and checked the temperature throughout the cooking process to run across how quickly the thermometers registered the temperature of the meat. Nosotros also tested for accuracy by placing each thermometer in a glass of ice water to see how apace and precisely they measured the freezing temperature. Here are the all-time picks.

What is carryover cooking?

Meat will continue cooking even subsequently y'all've removed it from a heat source. That means if your steak hits the perfect medium-rare temperature on the grill, it volition keep to ascent several degrees while it's resting. Meat temperature tin can increment 10 degrees or more while it's resting, depending on its size. The larger the cut, the more than carryover cooking will occur. So, if y'all're cooking a larger piece of meat (such every bit a turkey), you lot will desire to remove it from the heat source when its several degrees under the USDA's official temperature for doneness.

What to Know About Taking the Temperature of Ground Meat

Y'all may have noticed that ground meat often needs to exist cooked to a slightly higher temperature than whole cuts of meat. The food scientist Harold McGee explains a crucial distinction to exist made betwixt whole muscle cuts and ground meat: "... meats inevitably harbor bacteria, and it takes temperatures of 160 degrees Fahrenheit or higher to guarantee the rapid destruction of the bacteria that can crusade homo illness — temperatures at which meat is well-washed and has lost much of its moisture. So, is eating juicy, pink-red meat risky? Non if the cut is an intact piece of healthy muscle tissue, a steak or chop, and its surface has been thoroughly cooked: leaner are on the meat surfaces, not inside. " When raw meat is ground up, the distinction between internal and external no longer applies. McGee says: "Ground meats are riskier, because the contaminated meat surface is cleaved into small fragments and spread through the mass. The interior of a raw hamburger usually does incorporate bacteria and is safest if cooked well done." Because East. coli is killed at 155 degrees Fahrenheit, the USDA sets the minimum condom temperature for ground beefiness at 160 degrees Fahrenheit. We can simply 2d this.

A Few Notes on Meat Prophylactic

People very rarely go sick from rare or medium-rare cuts of whole meat. Overwhelmingly, people get sick from the way meat is handled in the home: from cross-contagion, lack of cleanliness and property meat at dangerous temps. Internal temperature should be the to the lowest degree of your worries. Nonetheless, nosotros should emphasize that extra caution must be exercised when cooking for at-risk groups, specially the elderly, children under 7 and the immuno-compromised. In such cases, nosotros suggest the USDA guidelines exist strictly followed.