How to cook the meat right

Today I am going to explain how to deal with a roast of meat or poultry in the oven, which you will surely you'll have to face during the next Xmas days.

If for any reason you are going to bake meats, it is advisable to buy  a kitchen thermometer first and avoid any type of empiricism, if that makes you nervous.

The thermometers intended to control the degree of doneness of the meat have the appearance that I have collected in the above photograph. They have a fixed probe on the back that is stuck into the piece of meat, if possible to the center of it. The thermometer is kept inside the oven and can be preset to emit an alarm or distinctive signal when the desired temperature is reached. Obviously, they do not work with mercury - extremely toxic - but they use a metallic material that expands and moves the indicator needle according to the temperature it measures. 

There are other thermometers with a digital scale but to my knowledge they cannot be kept in the oven all the time. They are used to measure the temperature of liquids or solids in a timely manner but have the disadvantage that opening the oven involves the loss of heat and this is fatal for making cakes, bread and other recipes that need the action of the yeast.

The price of one of these simple thermometers is around 35 USD (30 €)  and it's worthy if you regularly prepare meat, poultry and fish in the oven.

It is feasible to bake meats without this gadget but then we enter the realm of "learning from mistakes". A piece of veal is not the same as another of pork, much less "guessing" when the meats are just rare, medium or well done.

But let's go in parts. There are three ways to bake meats. The first is to keep the meat in the oven at the same temperature throughout the cooking. The second is based on starting the cooking at a very high temperature and then reducing it until the end of the process. The third is to pass the meat through the grill very hot to brown the outside but without cooking the inside, which will later be baked at a constant temperature.

All three ways have different effects on meat. The first system performs continuous cooking and is suitable for tender meats such as sirloin or pork, as well as for cooking some poultry. 

Raising the temperature and then lowering it is useful for tough meats such as beef or when you want to obtain a golden and crunchy surface that encloses the meat juices inside. 

The latter method is an "accelerated" way of sealing the exterior that is often used with cuts of meat that are not too thick (it would be suitable for making a ribeye with a bleeding heart, for instance).

My suggestion is always the same: tender meat or thin cuts, constant temperature. Thick meat with a desirable golden appearance and a juicy center, high temperature at first and then low and constant. Fine cuts that could be affected by an excess of temperature or present a "boiled" appearance with a constant temperature are preferably prepared by passing them through the grill and then finishing the job with cooking at a constant temperature.

Rare beef

Once the type of baking has been chosen, we must calculate the cooking time for the result (rare, medium or well done) that we want. This is more complicated than it sounds. The time required will depend on the size of the piece, its weight, whether or not it contains bone, the age of the animal, the amount of fat, etc. If you are following a recipe, these data should be indicated in it. 

As it is not usual that "measurements" of the cut of meat are provided by the recipes, the simplest thing is to always use a thermometer like the one shown above. You nail it in the heart of the piece and when the temperature of the lower table is reached, the meat will have the finish we want.

                                  Rare          Medium             Well done

Beef                       55 C/131F     68C/154F   72C/161F (or higher)

Lamb                     65 C/149F    70C/158F    74 C/165F (or higher)

Pig                                                                          65 C/149F

Chicken                                                                  80C/176F

Turkey                                                                    80C/176F

In turkey, chicken and pork it does not make much sense to talk about rare meat because the nature of them. Only well done is suitable for the three.

Before baking the meat we must prepare it. On the one hand, we must keep it at room temperature for at least a couple of hours before cooking it. This is important to ensure that it is tender. If we take it to the fire when it is too cold, the collagen will contract and it will be hard.

It is also important to season it properly. You should use coarse salt - Maldon type - and cover the meat with it for a couple of hours. The meat will take the salt it needs, exactly what it needs, not one pinch more. During cooking it is essential that the meat is not dry and it is always best to soak it with the juices that it gives off.

Finally, after cooking, it is necessary for the meat to rest for a quarter of an hour at least so that the juices are reabsorbed.

I suppose it goes without saying, but it is strictly forbidden to puncture or crush the meat as the loss of fluid has a very negative influence on the result.