Hot food temperature check

This checks a probe reading against the published minimum for what was cooked. Pick the food, from beef, pork, veal and lamb through ground meat, poultry, fin fish and egg dishes to reheated leftovers and hot holding, enter the reading from the probe and the portions in the batch, and the page returns the FDA safe minimum internal temperature, the degrees still to gain, the rest time before serving where one applies and the portions held on this reading. The targets are the FDA's figures, cited below; the reading is yours.

One target per food, and the rest time is part of it

The FDA's safe minimum internal temperatures are specific: beef, pork, veal and lamb chops, roasts and steaks at 145 °F with a 3 minute rest time, ground meat at 160 °F, poultry at 165 °F, fin fish at 145 °F or until the flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork, egg dishes at 160 °F, and leftovers and casseroles at 165 °F. The page looks up the target for the food you picked and prints the rest time with it, because a steak pulled at 145 and served at once has skipped part of the rule.

The shortfall is the number to act on

A reading of 151 on a roast is 6 degrees over the 145 target, and the page prints the shortfall below zero to say so. A reading of 158 on poultry is 7 degrees short, and the page prints 7, which is the instruction: back in the oven, probe again. Printing the gap rather than a pass or fail keeps the cook looking at the thermometer rather than at a colour.

Hot holding is its own line at 140

Cooked food kept hot for service is held at an internal temperature of 140 °F or warmer, and fully cooked ham is reheated to 140 °F. That is a different rule from the cooking minimum, and the page carries it as its own option so the reading from the hot cupboard is checked against the right number. The temperature log planner on this site plans how often that reading is taken.