Re: fish cooking time.
My bad. I was thinking about things like thick tuna steaks, and wasn’t really thinking of filets and lighter fishies.
It’s what you get for posting to a cooking thread before lunch! 
(Incidentally, I don’t cook anything based on the formulas I gave above. I stick a meat thermometer in the middle and cook until the bacteria are dead. Is this correct: 140 degrees minimum? With things like turkey, I’ll go to 180. Chefguy, can you help me out on this one?
Definitely, a key tool to have in the kitchen is a meat thermometer. It is truly the best way for someone to make sure that your cuts of meat are cooked to the proper temperature.
140 degrees works for pork.
Turkey and chicken need to be at 165 degrees. 180 is too much, especially for white meat, which will dry it out. If you’re doing large cuts of meat, take it out when the temperature is at 155-160, cover with foil and let it rest on the counter. The radiant heat will even itself out (the outside is much hotter than the interior), and the internal temperature will go up before it starts to cool down. Also, it’s always best to let any meats rest after cooking–the juices will redistribute back into the meat while it rests. If you cut into it too soon, then you will lose juices.
Ground beef should be cooked to 165, also, but sometimes I live dangerously since I do like my hamburgers a little on the pink side.
For large cuts of beef or lamb, you want 125 degrees for rare, 135 for medium, 145 for well done. Just like the poultry, pull out of the oven about 5-10 degrees below your target range.
Chefguy ain’t the only chef in town. 
I wish I was a chef! I just have a passion for cooking and a good sense of what goes with what, etc. Most of my knowledge has come from experimenting and reading; I’ve taken some classes and have been urged by some to open a restaurant, but the energy required for that is daunting. I hope I haven’t mislead anyone regarding credentials.
What if you like dry, well done meat as I do? Especially chicken and turkey. The key would be to cook it hotter and pierce it to drain the juices immediately after cooking?
Blasphemy!
I think the key is to just cook it longer. It will defintely dry itself out on its own if overcooked.
Number One Rule in the Restaurant Business: Don’t open a restaurant. (Kidding! But, you’re right–there needs to be a tremendous output of money and energy to open one. And even then, you’re going up against some serious odds–95% of independent restaurants fail within their first 5 years.)
You do give good cooking advice, which is why I thought you were a professional. Having years of experience does count for something. I went to culinary school to make up for the years of non-experience that I had, because it was a second career, and I missed out on years of chopping onions in the back of the line.
Fabulous, thank you.
Now, secret confessions: I don’t eat or cook any land animals. (Thus my skewed idea of what temps to cook what meats… I thought it was important to bring up for the carnivores.)
How 'bout cooking temps for the fish? Because, truly, that is how I cook fish but I sort of guess at the optimal temp and shoot for somewhere in the middle, like 150-160ish. And let’s get into that a tad more, shall we? Does that mean, the second the meat/fish hits the optimal temp, you can yank it off the fire? Or does it have to be at that temp for a certain amount of time, like 5-10 minutes or something?
Lib are you sure you are feeling allright?
For some reason recently whenever Lib has said anything strange or out of the ordinary, some twit follows up with the question about whether he is feeling allright. I bet it pisses Lib off no end, so I decided to add it as a joke to his shocking admission of liking his meat ruined
Cooking temperatures for fish are not as much of a concern as with other meats, mainly because there’s much less incidence of the usual bacetrial problems that items such as chicken and beef have. Out of all the animal flesh out there that we eat, fish is pretty much the only thing we can safely eat raw in the US (with exceptions, of course). If you’re not buying sushi-grade fish, as long as you’re cooking it enough to start to flake at the edges, then you’ve cooked it enough to kill off any possible surface bacteria.
(As an aside, one of my favorite things is a very nice piece of sushi-grade ahi, seared on all edges, but perfectly rare and bright red in the middle, with a hunk of wasabi on the side. Mmmmm.)
For the most part, you do need to cook shellfish thouroughly–shrimp usually only take about 3-4 minutes, and fish doesn’t need more than 7 minutes per inch of thickness, if you’re cooking it in a pan. It may take a little longer in an oven, but checking by touch–it will be firm and will not give–will be your best indication of doneness.
Is that a swat at me for teasing you?
Man can I ever relate. I have worked for many years as a line cook then as a sous chef. It is my passion. Then I discovered that I had a household to support and I could basically double my income by working helpdesk. Sigh.
There is just something about being on the line, under pressure and making food that lifts my soul. Not being able to do that for a living is one of the great tragedies of my life.
I know what you mean, man. I thank my lucky stars that I have a situation where I can afford to be a chef. I’m not rich by any means, but have a husband that makes enough that we get by on my pittance for now.
I know that one day what I make won’t be enough (when, hopefully, kids start popping up), and I’ll have to move on.
It bothered me for a day or two, but then I remembered this thing called momentum and the tendency of invertebrates to move about in schools. I like especially dry turkey soaked in giblet gravey. Why? I don’t know, it just makes my mouth and tummy happy.
Just to continue the hijack for a moment: In one of my classes was a woman who was about five years younger than me. She was taking classes because she was about to take a giant chance on going down in flames as a cook aboard a charter sailing ship. She’d never done anything remotely like cooking for a large group. I was in awe of her daring and envious to the point of exhaustion.
I dunno if this will add anything to what’s already been mentioned but here’s my grandma’s general technique for pan gravy, adapted to my sloppy modern habits:
Hint: since gravy is usually the last thing made, as soon as you empty the pan just dump some hot water into it to soak while you eat and relax. Films of flour gravy can harden to paste very quickly so it makes that final clean up much easier. All it takes is a light scrub instead of hard scouring. Bad for you and your pans. <g>
Now…are you gravied out?
Veb
A couple of things here
First off if the recipe calls for 60 minutes at 300 that is NOT the same as 30 minutes at 600. Got it? NOT the same.
Learn how to brine meats. I have done this with several friends who did not know how to cook, and now people think they are chefs.
Basic chicken / turkey brine
1 cup kosher salt (NOT table salt, don’t cook with table salt)
1/2 cup brown sugar
Juice from 2 limes
1 gallon liquid ( you can use all water, or part water and part Orange Juice)
1 2 gallon zip lock bag or non-metalic bowl large enough to hold the bird
Mix the salt and sugar with one quart of hot water and disolve. Add the rest of the liquid.
Chill the liquid
when the liquid is chilled add the poultry. Replace back into fridge (The bird and the polutry must stay cold, otherwise very bad things can grow and cause problems.)
Brine for 3-12 hours
remove and rinse
If you have a BBQ place bird over medium heat indirect if possible for 1 hour or until breast is 160 and juices run clear.
If cooking in oven 350 for probably about 1 hour ( I only cook birds on the BBQ so you will have to experiment with the oven.)
You can also brine pork ( I am doing some baby back ribs for tomorrow night right now)
While we’re at it, when instructions say “reduce heat and simmer”, reduce it to what? Low? Medium-Low? Medium?
When a recipe says to reduce heat and simmer, usually it’s because you had to bring whatever it is to an original boil.
You reduce your heat to the lowest flame that will keep your stuff to a simmer.
Of course, I know that’s vague, but it’s one of those things that will entirely depend on what you’re making, what’s in the pot, how large the pot is, and how long it’s expected to simmer. A large pot of a thin, broth based soup can take more a little more flame than a medium pot of thick chili. If, let’s say, you’re making a traditional Bolognaise sauce, which needs to simmer for hours, then you’re going to keep that on a very low flame, as opposed to a skillet sauce that only needs to simmer for 20 minutes to thicken, which could take a medium flame.
To say nothing of the fact that each stovetop is as unique as a fingerprint.
I knew I forgot something. There is definitely a HUGE difference between a little rinky-dink average kitchen stove versus a professional Viking stove… and all the stoves available in between.