Does it sound like my digital therm works?

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legend_018

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I recently bought a small good cook Precision digital thermometor.
I was following some advise on cooking Salmon. Although I've cooked it many times before and just checked it a few times to see if it was done. But, this time, following the advise - I put about a 12 oz salmon in the oven at 250 and it said when the thermometer reached 130F to take it out. Well it was definetely not done when it beeped at 130. I stuck it into a thick part too, or atleast I thought I did. This advise came from a very good cook.

Is it my thermometor?
 
Legend, first of all, I think the oven temp seems a bit low. I'd be more inclined to bake at 350 degrees. And the internal temp should be closer to 140 degrees to be safely done. Although you don't want to turn it into a dried-out hockey puck.

You can test your thermometer by inserting the probe into a a pot of boiling water. Water boils at 212 degrees and that is what temperature your thermometer should register.
 
thanks

I have never cooked fish at 250 degrees before. I usually also cook it at around 350/375.

I'm going to run that test some time today. probably when my 13 month old goes down for her nap ; ).

Thanks again!!
 
210 on my thermometer it seems

It started boiling before it hit 212, but not too soon before that. Than it was reallly boiling at 210 and won't really go any further than that. I'm guessing it's close enough.
 
I'm guessing that you have a "remote digital probe" thermometer ... one with a metal probe you stick in the meat that has a cord that runs to a digital readout that is outside the oven? That's about all I could think of from your statement that "it beeped at 130".

Probes don't always just measure the temperature at the tip ... some measure the temperature as far up an an inch from the tip. So, if you stick one straight down into a thin piece of meat (at a perpendicular 90º angle) it will not just register the temp at the center of the meat but an average over the length of the "reactive" portion of the probe. For this reason - when using this type of thermometer the probe should be inserted at an angle where the majority of the lower 1-inch of the probe is near the center of the food- this can be a very acute angle for thin things.

From your "boiling water" test it sounds like your thermometer is accurate enough. Just to satisfy my curiosity - how did you insert your thermometer probe into your salmon ... and how thick was your salmon where you inserted your probe?
 
I'm trying to think. It was fairly even all around pretty much. I think I stuck it into the side and pushed it all the way through.
 
stuck it into the side and pushed - so you inserted it horizontally? That's good.

Also, cook salmon to 140 F. - there is not enuf 'mass' for residual heat to bring the temp any higher than what it is when removed from the heat source. Also, I don't think I'd ever cook it at 250 F.
 
due to the metal temp sensor going into the food Cold it will take some time to come back up to temp again from the meat (Latency of heat energy) so you Must give it a fair few seconds to reach an accurate reading.
also only Pure water at Sea level will boil at 100c, if you higher than sea level, the Boiling point of water drops,
the reading you had is Plenty accurate! :)
 
legend_018 said:
I'm trying to think. It was fairly even all around pretty much. I think I stuck it into the side and pushed it all the way through.

Humm ... you may have pushed the probe too far, if you push it all the way through! Using a theoretical 2-inch thick 4x4 inch square piece of salmon ... if you pushed the probe in 3-inches from one side ... you are measuring the temp 1-inch from the other side, not in the middle. That would certainly make a difference.

YT2095 - from what I understand this is a probe thermometer that is inserted into the meat and left there during cooking - connected via a cable of some sort to an external (outside of the oven) digital display with audio alarms which sound when the probe reaches the set temp - so the latency problem of an "instant read" thermometer wouldn't be a problem. And, "... also only Pure water at Sea level will boil at 100c" is not totally accurate .... only pure water (water without any minerals in it) at 1 Atmosphere (760 mm/Hg or 29.92 in/Hg).
 
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cjs said:
stuck it into the side and pushed - so you inserted it horizontally? That's good.

Also, cook salmon to 140 F. - there is not enuf 'mass' for residual heat to bring the temp any higher than what it is when removed from the heat source. Also, I don't think I'd ever cook it at 250 F.

A lot of people like salmon pink (raw) inside. If you do, 130 is fine. You want to make sure not to overcook fish. I use a hot oven to bake fish. I also think that 250 is way too low.

Try testing your thermometer in a cup of ice water.
 
Michael in FtW said:
"... also only Pure water at Sea level will boil at 100c" is not totally accurate .... only pure water (water without any minerals in it) at 1 Atmosphere (760 mm/Hg or 29.92 in/Hg).

sea level was Originaly taken to be the standard for 1Atm, although Mercury Syphg units are rarely used now also, 101Kpa is the prefered SI unit.

I try to avoid getting Too technical here.
 
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