Today's Kitchen Tip: Testing food for doneness

Many of us have difficulty telling when our food is fully cooked.  There are many ways to do this, but my favorite is using a digital meat thermometer.

They are great for telling whether your meat is cooked to your preference without cutting into the meat itself.  Who wants to get a chicken breast that has already been cut?  Not me.  But if you use a meat thermometer, there is virtually no evidence that you checked anything. 

If you do not know what temperatures food should be when they are done, you may want to purchase a thermometer that shows doneness along with temperatures.  That way, you will not have to remember temperatures.

Digital  meat thermometers can vary quite a bit in price.  They can be found for under $10 for types like shown in this photo, and can range to about $100 for fancy Thermapen thermometers.  I love the Thermapens, but for most people, a simple one will work perfectly.

By the way, digital meat thermometers work for more than just meat.  For example, when baking bread, you can check that your bread is perfectly baked by temperature.  You can also test the temperature of water when using with yeast...and so much  more.

In my classes, I always tell people that if I could only have one kitchen gadget, it would be a digital meat thermometer.

do something about kitchen thermometers.  link to examiner.