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Cooking meat and poultry to that perfect state of "just correct" is not as elusive as it sounds. While judging doneness by expect and feel is an uncertain fine art at all-time, it is actually pretty easy to get great results all the time when yous apply an instant-read thermometer. A thermometer is the only reliable way to measure internal temperature. Accept a few minutes to commit these temperatures to retentiveness or jot them down in a place almost where y'all keep your thermometer.

Meat Temperatures

At what temperature is chicken and turkey done?

To take the temperature of a whole craven or turkey, insert the thermometer straight down into the thickest part of the chest near the courage and direct down into the thigh, taking care not to hit the bone (which can cause an wrong reading). If yous're cooking chicken parts, blimp chicken or basis craven, insert the thermometer probe into the thickest office to have the temperature.

Chicken breast: 165 degrees F

Chicken thigh: 165 to 175 degrees F

Stuffed craven: 165 degrees F

Ground chicken: 170 to 175 degrees F

At what temperature is beef and lamb done?

Insert the thermometer probe into the thickest part of the meat to take the temperature, taking intendance to avoid whatever bones if in that location are any.

Rare: 125 degrees F + 3 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 part of the meat to take the temperature, taking care to avoid whatsoever bones if in that location are whatsoever.

Medium rare: 145 degrees F + iii minutes rest

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

What is carryover cooking?

Meat volition go on cooking fifty-fifty after you've removed it from a heat source. That means if your steak hits the perfect medium-rare temperature on the grill, it will continue to rise several degrees while information technology'south resting. Meat temperature tin can increment 10 degrees or more while it'southward resting, depending on its size. The larger the cutting, the more carryover cooking will occur. Then, if you lot're cooking a larger piece of meat (such as a turkey), you will desire to remove it from the heat source when its several degrees nether the USDA'south official temperature for doneness.

What to Know Near Taking the Temperature of Footing Meat

You lot may accept noticed that ground meat often needs to be cooked to a slightly higher temperature than whole cuts of meat. The food scientist Harold McGee explains a crucial distinction to be made betwixt whole muscle cuts and footing 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 cause man affliction — temperatures at which meat is well-done and has lost much of its wet. And then, is eating juicy, pink-red meat risky? Not if the cut is an intact piece of salubrious muscle tissue, a steak or chop, and its surface has been thoroughly cooked: bacteria are on the meat surfaces, not inside. " When raw meat is ground up, the distinction betwixt internal and external no longer applies. McGee says: "Ground meats are riskier, because the contaminated meat surface is broken into pocket-sized fragments and spread through the mass. The interior of a raw hamburger usually does contain bacteria and is safest if cooked well done." Because E. coli is killed at 155 degrees Fahrenheit, the USDA sets the minimum safe temperature for ground beef at 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Nosotros tin can only second this.

A Few Notes on Meat Rubber

People very rarely go sick from rare or medium-rare cuts of whole meat. Overwhelmingly, people become sick from the style meat is handled in the home: from cross-contamination, lack of cleanliness and holding meat at dangerous temps. Internal temperature should be the least of your worries. Even so, we should emphasize that extra caution must be exercised when cooking for at-risk groups, particularly the elderly, children under 7 and the immuno-compromised. In such cases, we suggest the USDA guidelines be strictly followed.