Episode 7
In this chat with Rachelle, we’re diving into:
Using a meat thermometer for cooking perfect meat
How to know what temperature your meat is done cooking at
Tips for how to use your thermometer
The best digital thermometer recommendation
Introduction
Hi there, and welcome to episode seven of the Beyond Nourished Podcast. This is the place to learn short tips and tricks on becoming a better, more efficient health-focused cook in just 10 minutes or less.
I am your host, Rachelle Girardin. I am a holistic nutritionist, the founder of the Holistic Chef Certification and Business Training, and I've also been running my own business Beyond Nourished for over ten years now.
In the last episode, we talked about the first step to cooking mouth-watering meat, and in this episode, we are going to continue that conversation. I'm very passionate about the second step because beyond the first, beyond the third, I truly feel like this step has improved my meat cooking tenfold.
Perfect Meat, Every Time
I get so many compliments on every meat dish that I make, not every, but a lot of them, and that is because I use this next step all the time. I think that some cooks or chefs might feel there is a little bit of stigma around wanting to implement this next step, but I have to tell you, there is no shame in using this next step.
So here it is for you guys: cooking perfect, mouth-watering meat has to do with using a proper and good digital thermometer to make sure that you are cooking your food to the right temperature.
The step is actually kind of two-fold. First of all, you need a great thermometer, and the second thing is that you need to know what temperature the foods are needing to be cooked to in order to know that you're not over-cooking them.
When it comes to cooking meats, I would say that most people that I teach have a little bit of paranoia around meat not being cooked well enough or poisoning somebody by raw chicken. That's the biggest problem I see around people and their meat cooking is not being almost phobic of under-cooking it, that they overcook it all the time. We've all had to sit through eating dry, even disgusting meat, and we want to ensure that that's no longer the case, and so... we’ve got to get rid of that!
I’m still encouraging you to use safe food practices, but I've been doing quite a bit of research around this topic, and it used to be said that we had to cook meat up to 165 degrees Fahrenheit to get rid of any of the little worms that might exist in them, but that's actually long been proven to be untrue.
Pork can be safely consumed and is ready at a temperature between 145 and even 130 degrees for something like a chop. There are many things out there that have kind of given us the reason to be scared about undercooking our meat, but I would say part of the bigger problem right now is overcooking, and one of the best ways that you can get around this is by making sure that you're using a digital thermometer.
The Best Digital Thermometer
For me, that is 100% recommending to all of you to use something called a Thermapen. Now, my mom gifted me my first Thermapen about six years ago in my stocking over Christmas, and I have been blown away by how well it has fared over the last several years. It's around $100 price point, and at that point, I had spent quite a bit of money on multiple digital thermometers, whether that be from a local kitchen store or ordering it on Amazon, and I didn't have a single one that had lasted more than a year.
Many of them are not waterproof, so the second that you get a little bit of water in there, they basically become garbage.
The Thermapen is such an incredible tool to have in your kitchen arsenal! Because it is waterproof, it has a very long lifespan, and in my opinion, and through the thousands and thousands of five-star recommendations that they've had is truly the best you can buy.
For those of you out there listening that already are using a thermometer, know that your thermometer probably works great, but if it's not, or if it's glitching out, do yourself a favour and spend a little bit of extra money and buy a Thermapen.
This step is something that just provides so much accuracy in your cooking and you’ll no longer have to second guess if it’s cooked enough or not, you won’t need to cut the piece of meat or fish open and pry it open.
The Perfect Temperature
You're using a thermometer, and so now a couple of tips on using the thermometer or making sure that your cook time is always being monitored so that you know at what point you might want to start checking that piece of meat that's cooking because you don't want be stabbing your meat over and over again!
Throughout the cooking process, you want to bring it to what you think is kind of done - try to catch it a few minutes ahead of time - and then get a digital read on that in one or two locations of the piece that you're cooking.
If you go a little bit over the temperature, just know for next time. Make a note of your cooking time, and the more practice you have, the more often that you do it, it's just gonna keep getting better and better. Your timing will get even more perfect, especially if you're using the same piece of equipment over and over.
Join Me for Part Three Next Week!
I hope you've enjoyed this quick little tip on the second step of cooking mouth-watering meat! I hope you guys stay tuned because there's one more part in this series! And as always, if you have a few minutes please share this tip with anyone that you think might be interested and don’t forget to subscribe.
If you'd like to follow us on social media as well, the best place to find us is @cookwithbeyondnourished. I hope to see you guys in the next episode!