Thermometer yes, thermometer no?
Regarding the use of thermometers in the sous-vide kitchen, there are two main opposing currents of thought.
The first thinks these are useless! In fact, by definition, low-temperature food processing machines have the ability to maintain the cooking bath at a very precise temperature and, consequently, the thermometer becomes useless since once you have complied with the minimum cooking times, you have the tranquility of getting a constant thermal condition throughout the volume of cooked product.
This is particularly true with regard to the cooking of meat with a lot of connective tissue, which require very long times not so much for the temperature at the heart to reach the desired level, but for the food to remain at that temperature (for very long times), so that collagen turns (denaturation) into soft gelatin and muscle fibers relax, so as to decrease its toughness and provide an excellent result to the bite.
Conversely, the second current of thought believes that, for the most tender types of meat and for fish, the thermometer is fundamental to ensure a result of cooking much more accurate, that takes into account the time that passes after arriving at the heart of the desired temperature. It will then be up to the cook to decide how long to leave the food at that temperature, depending on the degree of tenderness he wants to give to the final dish. It should be considered, that reached the desired temperature at the heart of the food, short times of permanence will provide more firm meats, while very long times will give meats progressively softer to the bite, up to distort its characteristics, resulting in meats that are “defaced”. Therefore the control of the temperature inside the food becomes a fundamental factor to guarantee the final characteristics in the dish.
To better appreciate this concept we propose an example: suppose we want to prepare a Florentine high 3 fingers, wanting to cook blood (for “blood” we could mean a temperature of 52°C for 3 hours). This will lead to a certain cooking result. However, depending on the type and shape of the cut, the age and breed of the animal, it is possible to overexposure to treatment that could denature some characteristics of the food (such as the loss of a little taste or become too exhausted). Using instead a probe to the heart as temperature control, once reached for example the 48-50 °C we have two possibilities: wait a few more minutes to increase tenderness, or remove the meat and finalize for a couple of minutes on the grill or hot plate. With this last operation, in addition to producing the classic and welcome reaction of Maillard, pleasant to the eyes, nose and palate, we will provide some more thermal energy to the inside of the food, bringing the final temperature to the heart and to the desired level, for a perfect service.
The probe is then used to determine the perfect time to finish the treatment of the product according to the wishes of the chef.
It becomes the key element to exercise active control of the preparatory process, avoiding relying solely on the parameters of time and temperature derived from statistics, which often is inadequate to manage products of different nature and size.
Using the Theprobe wireless temperature probe, which can be directly inserted into the food before sealing it vacuum, all your cuts of meat will benefit, in all their preparation processes. In fact, during sous-vide cooking, the probe will indicate when the desired heart temperature will be reached. Then, placing the bag in the blast chiller, will tell us when the internal temperature of the food will be low enough to move the bag in the fridge or freezer. Finally, if you want to regenerate the food before the service, The Probe will tell us when it will be the perfect time to serve at the right temperature; all in a precise way, avoiding having to estimate times or worse, for safety, allow more time to pass than necessary.