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Internal temp question

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Gym
Gym Posts: 366
in EggHead Forum
Hey all
I'm cooking a stuffed (butterflied) pork tenderloin for dinner tonight. My question is when I check for internal temp with therma pen, if it is inserted into the filling in the center and not the meat, is it still accurate as to the meats actual temperature?
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  • jeffwit
    jeffwit Posts: 1,348
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    If I'm understanding your question correctly, inserting the thermapen into the filling will only give you the temp of the filling, not the surrounding meat. The temp sensor is in the tip of the probe. 
    Jefferson, GA
    XL BGE, MM, Things to flip meat over and stuff
    Wife, 3 kids, 5 dogs, 4 cats, 12 chickens, 2 goats, 2 pigs. 
    “Honey, we bought a farm.”
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  • dsrguns
    dsrguns Posts: 421
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    I would guess the meat. Someone with more experience might chime in. I will be following this as I want to do one myself. Please post your cook. Good luck.
      
    XL BGE
    MD
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  • Gym
    Gym Posts: 366
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    I understand it only takes the temp on the tip of the pen. Just to clarify, I want to be sure that if the filling is 145 (for example) then the meat should also be that temp. 
    It's a slight variation of @brisket_fanatic "pork cordon Swiss". It looked so good I have to give it a try!
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,888
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    "Pokes" are cheap, why not take several readings to get a general idea rather than just one and then try to guess?
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
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  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
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    The meat. Definitely. 
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
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  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
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    Seems to me, every cook book from the pre-inter-web-era suggested checking the temp of a stuffed turkey by inserting a thermo into the centre of the stuffing, hence when the stuff is up to target temp, the meat surrounding it was also up to temp (or well above target temp). Overcooked turkey is one reason why few folks stuff turkey anymore.

    If your stuffed loin stuffing is at 145ºF, the surrounding meat would be at +145ºF by a few degrees as the stuffing must be heated "through the meat". If you were roasting at temps close to 400ºF, I think the meat might be as high as 155-165ºF when the stuffing reaches 145ºF. If you are roasting at 300ºF, the meat might be at 150-155ºF when the stuffing hits 145ºF. 

    II think the drawback to stuffing is the sometimes overlooking of the surrounding meat, to get the stuffing up to temp. 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
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  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,337
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    If you slowly ease the thermo into the center of the pork and watch the display you will get the temperature gradient from the outer edge to the center-thus you can decide how to proceed.  FWIS-
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
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  • td66snrf
    td66snrf Posts: 1,822
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    It would depend on what you're stuffing it with. If everything in the stuffing is edible before you stuff it in I would only be concerned with the temperature of the meat. If there is something raw in your stuffing that needs to cook to be sanitary then I would be checking the stuffing temp.
    XLBGE, LBGE, MBGE, SMALL, MINI, 2 Kubs, Fire Magic Gasser
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  • Gym
    Gym Posts: 366
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    Just Swiss cheese in the center. I will try partially inserting probe, or inserting slowly and see what the temp reads. 
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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
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    td66snrf said:
    It would depend on what you're stuffing it with. If everything in the stuffing is edible before you stuff it in I would only be concerned with the temperature of the meat. If there is something raw in your stuffing that needs to cook to be sanitary then I would be checking the stuffing temp.
    If your cooking temp is related to food safety, even if the stuffing was "safe" before you stuffed it, it's going to be contaminated with juices from the surrounding meat and you should consider it "meat".
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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  • Gym
    Gym Posts: 366
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    So it turned out pretty well. I cooked at 300 with plate setter for about an hour with some apple chunks. Gradually inserting the therma pen worked well to check the internal temp. This is the perfect example of why the thermapen is such a handy tool! I cooked a second tenderloin for jambalaya later this week. I'll post a couple pics. Thanks @brisket_fanatic for the idea!
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  • dsrguns
    dsrguns Posts: 421
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    Looks good. I like the idea of a quick cook.
      
    XL BGE
    MD
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