This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
The thermometer is your friend
There are many recipes or foods that require a (very) precise cooking temperature: foie gras, sugar for caramel, meats and fish, and not forgetting pastries. For these few examples, getting the cooking temperature wrong can spoil the whole recipe or dish: undercooked, it's no good or misses the mark; overcooked, it can become hard, dry or inedible.
It's not easy to judge cooking or temperature by eye, but fortunately you have an indispensable friend in the form of a thermometer.
It's not easy to judge cooking or temperature by eye, but fortunately you have an indispensable friend in the form of a thermometer.
5,222 5/5 (4 reviews)
Keywords for this post:CookingPastryBakeryTemperatureBakingThermometerElectronicLast modified on: April 10th 2025
The thermometer is your friend
A catering professional has a keen eye, he or she is able to see or sense if the cooking is finished, or if it needs to be continued, simply by virtue of his or her long experience. It's always amazing to see a rotisserie chef, or a rotisserie cooker, who can manage a 1-square-meter griddle, and who is able to start cooking 5 or 6 pieces of meat at the same time, or more, and to know when to stop the "blue", the "rare" and the "medium" at the right moment.
Obviously, this is something we amateurs are hardly capable of. It's not so easy to cook fish properly, and nothing is better than a perfectly cooked fish fillet: neither too much (it dries out and hardens), nor too little (it's not sushi, being "pearly" when cooked isn't always enough).
You might think that it's only a question of time: if you put your tournedos on the stove for x minutes, it will be cooked to perfection, or if you put your roast in the oven for y minutes, it will be too. But no, it doesn't work like that, because the heat source is highly variable: you put your frying pan on the fire, and it takes a certain amount of time to reach the right temperature, depending on your setting; your meat may have just come out of the fridge, so it's cold, which means it will take longer to cook, whereas meat at the right temperature will cook faster, in short... It's almost mission impossible.
So, should we give up? No, in fact, technology can come to our rescue in a very simple way: since cooking means reaching a certain temperature, and this temperature can be measured with a thermometer, we can rest easy enough on that.
Returning to the story of the undercooked fish, it's enough to know that fish is (generally) perfectly cooked if it reaches 60°C at the core. To cook your fish successfully, put it in the oven or on the stove, stick a thermometer probe in it and wait for it to reach the famous 60°C, then remove from the heat and serve within 3 to 5 minutes. You'll be amazed at the results.
It works for just about any type of cooking, and above all, it's completely environmentally friendly: is my oven/oven hot? Is my meat or fish at room temperature or not? Is the thickness of my foie gras even? Is my sugar "grand cassé" rather than blond caramel? None of this matters, only the core temperature of your dish.
If you're going down this road, you'll need a good thermometer: opt for an electronic one that goes up to 300°C, with an oven-safe stainless steel probe (some kitchen ovens now include a probe), and if possible a temperature alarm: it beeps loudly when the indicated temperature is reached, allowing you to do something else while cooking. It's not cheap, but it's a good investment, and once you've tried it, you'll see that it's a life-changing device.
To sum up: when cooking, only the core temperature counts, and the thermometer is ideal for that.
Obviously, this is something we amateurs are hardly capable of. It's not so easy to cook fish properly, and nothing is better than a perfectly cooked fish fillet: neither too much (it dries out and hardens), nor too little (it's not sushi, being "pearly" when cooked isn't always enough).
You might think that it's only a question of time: if you put your tournedos on the stove for x minutes, it will be cooked to perfection, or if you put your roast in the oven for y minutes, it will be too. But no, it doesn't work like that, because the heat source is highly variable: you put your frying pan on the fire, and it takes a certain amount of time to reach the right temperature, depending on your setting; your meat may have just come out of the fridge, so it's cold, which means it will take longer to cook, whereas meat at the right temperature will cook faster, in short... It's almost mission impossible.
So, should we give up? No, in fact, technology can come to our rescue in a very simple way: since cooking means reaching a certain temperature, and this temperature can be measured with a thermometer, we can rest easy enough on that.
Returning to the story of the undercooked fish, it's enough to know that fish is (generally) perfectly cooked if it reaches 60°C at the core. To cook your fish successfully, put it in the oven or on the stove, stick a thermometer probe in it and wait for it to reach the famous 60°C, then remove from the heat and serve within 3 to 5 minutes. You'll be amazed at the results.
It works for just about any type of cooking, and above all, it's completely environmentally friendly: is my oven/oven hot? Is my meat or fish at room temperature or not? Is the thickness of my foie gras even? Is my sugar "grand cassé" rather than blond caramel? None of this matters, only the core temperature of your dish.
If you're going down this road, you'll need a good thermometer: opt for an electronic one that goes up to 300°C, with an oven-safe stainless steel probe (some kitchen ovens now include a probe), and if possible a temperature alarm: it beeps loudly when the indicated temperature is reached, allowing you to do something else while cooking. It's not cheap, but it's a good investment, and once you've tried it, you'll see that it's a life-changing device.
To sum up: when cooking, only the core temperature counts, and the thermometer is ideal for that.
Lasts posts
A tablet holder
Perhaps you too cook by consulting your recipe on a tablet or phone, and putting it down on your worktop? It's practical, but not the best solution. Here's a look at how you can make an inexpensive, almost universal stand.March 14th 20261,2955
Pre-calibrated pastry dough
When making pie dough (shortbread, shortcrust, sweet...), it's always a good idea to make a lot at once, and then divide it into pieces, which you can freeze. I've already pointed out the mistake not to make, which is to form a ball before freezing. It's difficult to roll out afterwards because...March 9th 20261,2005
Butter vs. grease
We often read in a recipe where a pastry is put into a mould that, just before pouring, the mould should be buttered or greased. But what's the difference between these 2 terms?December 1st 20253,2445
Getting out of the fridge early
Very often when you're cooking, you need to take food or preparations out of the fridge, to use them in the recipe in progress. There's nothing tricky about this: you just take them out of the fridge and use them, usually immediately, in the recipe. But is this really a good method?November 24th 20252,1585
Who's making the croissants?
When you look at a bakery from the outside, you naturally think that in the bakery, the bakers make the bread, and in the laboratory, the pastry chefs make the cakes. It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one...November 23th 20251,976
Other pages you may also like
Fruits and their syrup
As I write these lines, we are finally in the summer, the holidays are approaching, and above all, the fruits are pouring onto the market stalls, if they are ripe, it's time to enjoy them to the full! .July 24th 201912 K4.7
Pastry and bakery dough families
There are many kinds, or families, of pastry and bakery doughs, depending on whether you want to make a tart, a cake, a pie, a brioche, croissants and so on. I'll try to give you a quick overview of all these doughs, how they're classified, and what they're used for.November 16th 202014 K4.9
The (small) miracle of béchamel sauce
Making a béchamel sauce is going to confront you with a little miracle that happens every time: You pour milk over a roux, it's very liquid, you stir over a low heat, and then all of a sudden, miracle, the sauce sets, it thickens, you've got your béchamel. Let's see what happened.August 27th 20249,3684
Parsley stems
Parsley, whether curly or flat, is a delicious ingredient in many recipes, where it is used both raw and cooked. When used raw, in a salad for example, where it always provides, alone or with other herbs, a remarkable freshness, only the leaves are kept. And when used cooked?July 28th 20258,764 13
The power of sayings and beliefs in the kitchen
One day, in the comments on the recipe for beaten egg whites, a young woman asked if you could beat egg whites stiff while having a period, as a friend had told her it wasn't possible. Sometime later another person commented that for mayonnaise it had been (get this!) scientifically proven that a...February 6th 201153 K4.4
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.