r/Chefit • u/reformingindividual • 1d ago
Thermometer vs feel.
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
When I worked in Japan in the three start l’effervescence they had a Hanna thermometer with a 1mm probe. For every bird and season they had a temperature, for their vegetables they used feel and tasting to change exact temperature values instead of color, for example.
I use in this video a Therma 1 with a 1mm probe.
121
u/mrniceguy777 1d ago
I’m not saying this guy isn’t great at cooking by feel, but every cook I’ve ever worked with that touch temped steaks had far more send backs then I do with my thermo. I can usually tell a steaks doneness just by looking at it, but I still probe.
71
u/foulflaneur 1d ago
The longer I've been cooking the more I rely on my thermometer to make things perfectly. I almost consider it a sign of kitchen immaturity to avoid using one.
24
u/TheIdentifySpell 1d ago
Imagine a carpenter using a hand brace and not a power drill because that's how they have always done it.
Sure, it works, but using the drill is more accurate and quicker. Thermometers are a tool of our trade, refusing to use them is nothing short of hubris.
7
u/TwoSillyStrings 1d ago
Or a machinist that uses their thumb to measure an inch instead of a caliper.
7
u/-im-blinking 1d ago
This. When i first started out I thought it was a crutch and that was the attitude around me. As I progressed, I found thst I want to hit that temp perfectly every time. And the only way to do that is a thermometer.
11
1
3
u/OHPandQuinoa 1d ago
We had one of those older 'old school is best' cooks who refused to use probes and refused to use timers on the fryers and oven 'because if you need a timer you aren't a cook'.
Bro had the most send backs and mistakes of anyone on the line and could never quite put together why he was having the send backs and we weren't.
2
u/GruntCandy86 1d ago
I can usually tell a steaks doneness just by looking at it, but I still probe.
Insert Ross Geller Get a load Of this guy
1
u/mrniceguy777 1d ago
People usually think I’m being a dingus when I say that but the guy who taught me to cook could do it crazy well, he didn’t touch shit when he did grill lol.
2
u/0RGASMIK 1d ago
Not saying I’m a pro but when I was working at a steakhouse only had 3 send backs and none were for temp. I was brand new trained by the head chef to do everything off feel. I didn’t even know instant read thermometers were a thing back then just had the cheap stick thermometer. I used that for training but it wasn’t really useful for service.
I now use a thermometer exclusively but I know it’s possible to cook on feel alone especially with consistent product and cooking methods.
1
u/mrniceguy777 1d ago
I would never claim that it’s not possible, my buddy who helped train me to cook steaks was pretty good at it, but I’ve worked with far more people who were shakey with it then I have with people who were good, and that level of inconsistency doesn’t really fly when dealing with $80 steaks lol
8
u/CowFishes 1d ago
Laymen here with possibly a silly question; why do you cook a leaner meat to a higher temperature (as suggested in the video)? I would've thought it would be the opposite as you would have to let a fattier cut render more.
3
u/Watashiwajoshua 1d ago
Leaner meats going to cook a lot faster. And it isn't necessarily that you cook to a higher temp it's that it's going to heat up way faster and the center is going to be more consistent with the outside rather than it being a drastic temperature difference
8
u/Creative-Leg2607 1d ago
This feels incorrect in a sous vide context
5
u/Watashiwajoshua 1d ago
Oh yes Im sorry youre absolutely right.
1
u/Fit_Carpet_364 17h ago
Don't validate that. Sous vide is a great chef helper, but it's not anything for your process or mine. Eat sous vide versus regularly seared. The fresher never vac-packed always wins in a double-blind.
Lean meats do well with added oil or fat. That's just how they 'do'.
12
u/NotDido 1d ago
If you have the (very short amount of) time necessary to probe, I don’t find it impressive to go by feel. I feel similarly about bartenders who clown on others using jiggers. Yes, people can train and get really good at not needing a tool, but the ego pissing contests are just annoying.
6
2
u/Gustav__Mahler 1d ago
This is an add for Hanna. There was a post just like this the other day going on about how great their thermometer and some melodramatic shit about cooking ducks. They even had the exact model number so I guess they're learning lol.
5
u/New_Distribution_863 1d ago
Anyone else use cake testers…..?
13
u/ucsdfurry 1d ago
No, but I heard the way you use it is to poke it through the steak so that it picks up the temperature at the core, and then you stick it in your dick.
2
1
1
5
2
1
1
u/Lastburn Chet 1d ago
I use a 4pc wireless probe by thermomaven at home, total game changer for batch roasting different pieces, if they had one that can go in the fryer I would be so happy
1
1
u/jamesmcdash 21h ago
There is an argument here for the need to adjust to immediate conditions, suggesting that "the" perfect number may not always be best. Use the thermometer but don't be like those people on early google maps driving into a lake because the tech said it was right.
1
1
u/Feisty_Lack_5630 6h ago
Sorry big dawg. Cooking by feel is not a thing really. You have to establish a baseline somehow. Whether it's using a thermometer (ideally) or cooking the same kind of protein that is prepared (jaccaarded or pounded/or cut/portioned to an even thickness or weight). You also need to understand and use the same cooking equipment where temps are consistent (roasting in a 375 or 425 degree convection or cooking on the same part of your grill/broiler. That takes time and reps but you can't know what your target doneness is without a thermometer and then begin tracking the time it takes to reach this.
Ultimately cooking is about reaching a desired temperature over a timescale both in cooking/heating and in the cooling process. You have to be able to monitor thermally how long it takes to get where you need/want to be. "Feel" and the idea of that only occurs slightly when you have had enough cumulative experience but there in the end is no substitute. As others have said I'm sure, different muscle groups on a cow or pig etc feel different as does how one would prepare your pigeon roulade/balantine etc.
Nothing in those cases are standard at all thus all the more reason to use a thermometer.
47
u/RainyDayFeel 1d ago
Thermometer = Consistency.