Thermapen

160 is to much for a chicken breast.
Temp will continue to rise after pulled from grill. How much will depend on the temp you were cooking at. Cooking at 450 will cause internal temp to jump 7-10 degrees after pulled. (could go more)
Cooking slow at 250 would not change internal temp after pulled as much as the 450 degree cook.
I would pull a higher temp breast cook at 130-135 knowing it would jump to 140+ at rest. Dark meat I would take to a higher temp. Also on thin pieces like breasts always put probe in at angle to put more of tip in target area.
Darian

Chicken is not fully cooked until 165.

I do my breast at 160.

Photo Egg (and all...)

You can achieve moist breasts and still acheive 165*. It takes some practice though, and not easily achieved at low temp. Carryover is the key, so the faster you drive heat in, the greater the carryover will be. I cook breasts at 375-400* direct, and can get about 8* carryover. I do not pull chicken before 158*, and rest in foil till 165 is reached.

This is a snippet from a post written at Thanksgiving time. If you want to read the whole post, simply search "Food Safety". It is the post titled 'Food Saftey for all of us'. Though this obviously addresses turkey, the same applies to chicken.
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There are two major bacterium we must concern ourselves with at Thanksgiving time….Salmonella, and Campylobacter Jejuni. These are the two leading causes of Food borne Illness in the United States. The leading culprit carrying these bacterium is poultry…with an astounding 40-100% of domestic raised poultry carrying C. Jejuni at slaughter (provided by the CDC). The leading cause for contracting C Jejuni among humans is undercooked poultry.

The minimum safe temperature required to eliminate these bacterium in your bird is 165*. I also admit, carryover cooking does occur…so if you are skilled with temperatures and carryover cooking, by all means, cook your bird as you see fit. For others, 165* is the critical temperature that must be reached in the cooking process. If you stuff your bird, the internal temp of 165*F must be achieved throughout the stuffing as well! (As a note, thighs and legs are always better in the 185*+ range….which is part of the challenge to cooking a whole bird without drying out your breast meat. However, even meat that appears undercooked or still pink IS safe to eat as long as the temperature reached at least 165* per the USDA). Also please note, the USDA does not recommend cooking turkey at any temperature less than 325*F to hasten death of bacteria in poultry.

Hope this helps! Keep on Eggin'

The most direct question in the original post was "How much before the desired internal do you pull food."
Since chicken was his test choice in the original post...you get the idea.
Solid post but it did get off track a bit.
darian

Your right. We should always cook to the safe side.
I should not have posted the lower temps I cook with at my home. I will be more careful.
Darian

What she said...LOL

One thing I do is insert the thermapen in from the side of the food. This makes it easier to get a quality reading. On a thin steak or chicken breast it can be too easy to push past the middle and start taking the temp. of the other side. When I first got my thermapen I would purposely slowly push it almost all the way through steaks. It was amazing to see how quickly it would read and start climbing as you went past the center.