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TEMP vs TIME

Beaker
Beaker Posts: 293
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Does everyone for the most part cook to TEMP vs TIME ??

Use time as a guide and confirm/refine with temp?
A quick sear you have to time it. Do you confirm with the ThermoPen befor you pull it? A low n slow you have hours or at least lots of minutes to decide if it is ready to come off the egg. Quick cooks you have seconds to decide. Let me know what you all do...

Thanks alot for everyones input !
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Comments

  • egret
    egret Posts: 4,170
    Temp. is the "only" way to decide when it's time to pull. I use a thermopen religiously to decide this! I just did a whole chicken tonight that should have been done 30 minutes earlier if I had gone by "time"......but my thermopen was right! You can also use a polder-type device for monitoring this.
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  • Beaker
    Beaker Posts: 293
    Thanks for that...I will keep after it. This is the the BEST forum !!
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  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    It doesn't matter how much time has elapsed...the food isn't done until it reached the proper temp. Period. Even baking, most recipes say bake at 400 for 40 minutes (for example). But that isn't always correct. I take the temp of breads and other baked goods every time.

    For example, you can't cook a steak four minutes per side - how does this apply to a thin flat iron steak and also to a 1.5" thick ribeye? And a chicken for 75 minutes - well, is that a 3 pound or a 6 pound bird?

    Always check temps. After a while you'll get a gut feel for when you're getting close and how much longer it will take to get done.
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  • Gator Bait
    Gator Bait Posts: 5,244
     
    I cook to temperature AND time. Time is theory, temperature is science. In theory my steak tonight should have taken about ten minutes total or five minutes per side to reach an internal temperature of about 118º. It did. If I had to cook by one or the other it would have to be temperature cause as Egret says it is going to be accurate more often then time. :)


    Blair


     
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  • NibbleMeThis
    NibbleMeThis Posts: 2,295
    Yeah....what he said:)
    Knoxville, TN
    Nibble Me This
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  • Beaker
    Beaker Posts: 293
    Thanks Fidel...send me a cuban...

    Brian
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  • Beaker
    Beaker Posts: 293
    Great info...thanks for all the replies. Helping me get from a newbie to a confident amatuer (sp?)
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    I use time, temps (both pit and finished food), feel, and a visual while stuff is cooking.

    DSC00539a-1.jpg

    So, lets say I'm cooking an 8 pound butt... I know from experience that I like them barbecued at 250-260 grate temp, and that it will take me about 15 hours to get it to 195° internal. During the cook, I keep an eye on the color, and if it's sizzling too much or darkening faster than I think it should, I will mop it or even ramp down the pit temp. I also watch the bone and look for those small cracks to form on the surface. But my final call is based on feel (in this case looseness of the bone and tenderness when probing) combined with an internal of at least 195°.
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • Beaker
    Beaker Posts: 293
    Thirdeye thanks for taking the time to reply. Lots of advice on this forum. I certainly do not want to offend ANYONE but your words carry some weight. I know this is not an eggact science butt your direction guides newbies into the correct stratusphere of cooking. I have been a browser on your site many many times and have enhanced (eggagurted) my skill level. Time and eggsperience will teach me more. Your website is an incredible resource.

    Thanks for all you have done for me and all the other LURKERS and BROWSERS and PARTICPANTS.
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  • Beaker
    Beaker Posts: 293
    u have email
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    Thanks for the kind words, but I think you summed it up when you said time and Eggsperience will teach you more.

    Bythebookthrowdown1.jpg

    Even though I have a big library of cookbooks, and have a BBQ section..... No matter what you read or who you talk to.... practicing technique on the pit is the most important thing. Not getting it too big of a hurry is the second most important thing. Heheee.
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • MemphisQue
    MemphisQue Posts: 610
    I recently got a thermapen and its great. They were on sale recently from the Thermapen website.
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,739
    when i sear i go by how it looks. i cook to temps and these are roughly the temps i follow, its a good guide but make notes up or down as you see fit. i dont have a watch, havent for almost 40 years so time and cooking dont work for me

    http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/doneness_chart.htm
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    there is no 'time', grasshopper. ;)
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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