Know Your Temperatures

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Maillard reaction temperature  

285°F – 310°F

Crowding food prevents the Maillard reaction

Water is a hinders  the Maillard reaction; it lowers the temperature  and greatly minimizes the reaction. (as long as there is water/ steam coming out of the food the surface temperature will only be about 212°F do you need to get the exterior temperature of the food to about 310°F to get a nice browning of the food and all the flavor enhancement from the Maillard reaction. As long as the food is very wet, its temperature won’t climb above the boiling point of water- 212°F.

This is why it is good to pat your meat, chicken, or pork dry with towels before you cook it. The high temperature of the cooking is key to the Maillard reaction. The high heat will increase the rate at which the chemical reaction takes place and will also accelerate the speed of water evaporation. It’s one of the reasons why I always sear meat before adding it to a slow cooker, because the moist heat cooking in a Crock-pot never gets above 212ºF (100ºC) for Maillard browning to occur.

Maillard reactions don’t just occur in meat. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, so as long as proteins, sugars, and high-enough temperatures are present, tasty brown food can result. Maillard reactions are responsible for the browning of mushrooms, the crust on bread and dark roast on coffee. (if you want to get nice brown sautéed mushrooms do not overcrowd the pan. Cook the mushrooms over high heat. And do not add salt until the end, if you add salt early it pulls moisture out of the mushrooms and creates more steam which hinders the Maillard reaction). If I need to brown a large quantity of food whether it’s mushrooms or meat I will often use multiple pans so that I do not overcrowd the pan and it cooks at a high temperature.

Click on the image below of the induction burner to read more and purchase from Amazon

I even went so far as buying a portable induction burner. When I know I’m going to be searing a lot of meat over high heat, I just plug my induction burner outside and cook the meat over very high heat in a cast iron pan- I got tired of always setting off the smoke alarm in my house.

Note: * I’ve included more information about carryover temperatures at the end of this section

Chicken thighs can benefit from being cooked to an internal temperature higher than 165 degrees Fahrenheit is their abundance of proteins such as collagen.

If thighs are only cooked to 165 F the texture will be chewier than if they were cooked until 185 degrees Fahrenheit/ 85 degrees Celsius. Cooking thighs to 185 F allows the meat time to tenderize, convert the tough collagen into silky gelatin.  This is also why you smoke brisket to a temperature of about 200°F.  It allows the collagen in the brisket to convert to gelatin.

Bread

Most breads are finished baking at about an internal temperature of 190°. Breads enriched with butter, eggs, or milk are finished when the internal temperature is closer to 180 to 185°F. The temperature of the longer-baked rustic artesian loafs will not get much  above 210°F, because the moisture it contains, even when fully baked, prevents it from going past the boiling point of water, or 212°F degrees. For rustic breads if you want a hard crunchy dark brown crust and you do not want a gummy interior cook the bread until it reaches 210° F and then cook it for an additional 15 minutes – until it sounds hollow when tapped.

Quick breads, like banana  zucchini , at 200°F (93°C). At that point, the baking powder/soda will have released all its gas.

At 212° F water boils at sea level. Also the temperature microwave ovens cook food.A microwave oven cooks food because the water molecules inside it absorb the microwave radiation and thereby heat up and heat the surrounding food.

285°F –The reaction is a type of non-enzymatic browning which typically proceeds rapidly from around 140 to 165 °C (285 to 330 °F).  (the temperature that protein browns). The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between an amino acids and a reducing sugar, usually requiring the addition of heat. Like caramelization, it is a form of non-enzymatic browning. The Maillard reaction takes place only when both protein and carbohydrates or sugars are present. Cooked at high heat, protein breaks down into its building blocks, amino acids, which then react with a group of sugars known as simple sugars.

Therefore, if you want your turkey or pot roast to turn brown and get the delicious flavors that are achieved by the Maillard reaction, your protein needs to get above 285°F – this is the temperature the protein needs to get to in order to reach this temperature you need to cook off all the liquid (For example: on the steak or liquid released from mushrooms. Your pan or oven need to be hotter that the 285°F. That is why we sear meat or cook mushrooms over high heat and never want to over crowd the pan. If moisture is in the pan you are cooking at 212°F and will not achieve browning.

Things that speed up the Mallard reaction are the following: A higher percentage of protein, more reducing sugar, cooking at higher temperatures, less water, longer cooking time, higher pH level.

Things that slow down the Mallard reaction are as follows: No country less protein, if you were reducing sugars, cooking at lower temperatures, higher concentration of water, shorter cooking time, lower pH.

(bread also has protein and browns at this temperature. By the way- that is why deep fry with a high percentage of cornstarch it stays a pale color; unlike wheat flour, corn starch does not have  protein. Therefore if you deep fry something that has a corn starch batter even though the temperature is above 300°F it will not brown)

320°F – to 356°F caramelization temperatures

If your food has enough color (a turkey, or  bread for example…. and you don’t want it to get darker, lower temperature  below the  caramelization  temperature and Maillard temperature 260°F (127°C) It will continue to cook but not get any darker.

Deep frying Temperature of Oil:

Candy Making- Sugar Temperatures (Fahrenheit/Celsius)

So, why go above 350°F?

• Breads: High temperatures (>425ºF) are really important in bread baking because higher temperatures lead to a better, faster rise before the gluten in the bread (and also the crust) has a chance to set.
• Puff pastries: Baked at 350ºF, puff pastries fall short when compared to those baked at 400ºF, because at 400ºF steam is released quickly between the layers, allowing for more expansion and height before the layers set and dry in place.
• Muffins: Baking muffins at 350ºF works, but did you know that if you start muffins in a hotter oven (even as high as 425ºF), you will get a taller muffin top? Baking the same recipe at 350ºF will lead to a less-domed muffin that has spread out and not up.

FOOD SAFETY

Danger Zone (40 °F – 140 °F)

Leaving food out too long at room temperature can cause bacteria  to grow to dangerous levels that can cause illness. Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40°F and 140°F,  This range of temperatures is often called the “Danger Zone.” If the temperature is less than 40°F it is too cold for most bacteria to reproduce— and above 140°F (60°C), the temperatures begins to be lethal to bacteria.

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Carry Over Temperatures: (From https://blog.thermoworks.com)

We can make several key observations by examining this data.

• First, we can see the effect that cooking temperature has. In every case, the meat that was cooked at the higher temp experienced more carryover than meats cooked at the lower temps. A pork loin cooked at 425°F (218°C) experienced 9°F (5°C) more carryover than a loin cooked at 300°F (149°C). If you want a pork loin that is not overcooked and you’re cooking at that higher temperature, you’ll need to pull it several degrees earlier!

• Second, we can see how mass affects the carryover. For the three pieces of pork cooked at each temperature, you can see the carryover increasing as mass increases. In the 300°F (149°C) oven, the chop had 4.9°F (2.7°C)of carryover, while the loin had 6.5°F (3.6°C). In the 425°F (218°C) oven, the carryover increased from 11.5°F (6.4°C) in the chop to 15.5°F (8.6°C) in the loin. (I don’t think the chop and the chunk were different enough to overcome experimental error in this experiment. Hence the chunk experiencing slightly lower carryover.

With so many variables in a cook, publishing a chart that shows carryover times would be practically impossible. We’d need an entry for every cook temp, for every mass, for every shape, and for every kind of meat or bread. That doesn’t mean you should give up hope of mastering your cook. It just means you’ll have to get a feel for how much carryover to expect given the specific circumstances of each cook.

Using tools such as the ChefAlarm®, with its Min- and Max-temp display can help you establish the carryover for any given recipe.

CONCLUSION

When cooking, temperature matters. Using a thermometer to gauge your pull temps is in every way better than using physical artifacts to check doneness. And if pressing a steak or cutting a chicken is the wrong way to hit an exact temperature, how much worse are they for determining a temperature you have not yet arrived at?

If you want to perfect your dish, you have to account for carryover cooking, and the only way to do that is to use accurate, reliable temperature instruments. Yes, there is a learning curve as you account for cook temp, the size of your food, and the kind of food you are cooking. But as you learn how those variables operate in your own kitchen, you’ll start to elevate your cooking in ways you’ve never imagined.