Professional chef here. It depends on the situation; sometimes never sometimes always. Large cuts of meat, large roasts, plated dinners, catered events: always.

As far as when you should insert a thermometer in the cooking process, “it should be toward the end of cooking,” says Papantoniou. “If you’re using a recipe, start checking about 10 minutes before the cook time expires.”

The thermometer will register the temperature in 15 to 20 seconds. This type of meat thermometer should not be left in food while it’s cooking.

A properly calibrated meat thermometer is key for achieving both meat safety and quality. When considering meat safety, the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service states that the only way to accurately measure if a product is cooked to a safe temperature is to use a food thermometer.

If your meat thermometer touches bone, you will get a higher temperature reading. But if you measure the meat near the bone, it may read as much as 10 degrees lower than the rest of the cut. It’s always best to find the densest part of the meat and steer clear of the bone when reading temperature.

Chicken bones would be cooler, but beef bones would be hotter. Heat diffusion through various media is different due to the moisture content. As long as moisture if evaporating out of the meat, the temp of the meat won’t go above the boiling temp of the water which is 212F. Bone doesn’t have as much water as the meat.

Roasting Tips: It will take longer to cook but the results will be worth the wait. A roast with a bone in it will cook faster than a boneless roast because the bone will conduct heat faster than the meat. If cooking more than one roast, be sure that there is uniform space around them so that they will cook evenly.

Bones have an impact on the way heat is distributed throughout the meat, so it can take a little bit more time to cook a bone-in steak. The dense bone essentially insulates the meat that surrounds it, keeping it at a lower temperature for longer than if it was boneless.

There are a number of things that can change the cooking time of a recipe. oven temp, thickness of the food, weather, and altitude.

More connective tissue, collagen, that melts back into the meat and gives it a fuller mouthfeel and adds to the flavor. The fact that its some of the least cooked meat on the cut helps. Connective tissue and fat patterning changes close to the bone make the meat more tender.

Bones are surrounded by fat, so as the bone heats the marrow its juices penetrate the meat and add a depth of flavour that does not exist with a boneless cut. Although bone-in cuts may take slightly longer to cook, it is well worth the wait as it creates a more succulent, flavourful and juicy cut of meat.

Bone-in or Boneless Prime Rib? We prefer bone-in prime rib because the bone insulates the meat as it cooks and produces more flavorful and tender results, but we suggest buying the type that is called for in the recipe you are using.

But it also means that the bone does serve at least one important function: it insulates the meat, slowing its cooking, and providing less surface area to lose moisture. Bone on its own is actually a superior conductor of heat than meat.

Beef Quality Grades (Eight)

• U.S. Prime – Highest in quality and intramuscular fat, limited supply.
• U.S. Choice – High quality, widely available in foodservice industry and retail markets.
• U.S. Select (formerly Good) – lowest grade commonly sold at retail, acceptable quality, but is less juicy and tender due to leanness.

Cooking meat does not make it tough, it gets more tender. Meat does get dry at higher temperatures, time does not matter that much. The higher the temperature the more moisture is squeezed out of the meat making it more dry, I guess that it what you describe as tough.

The reason why fish cooks much faster than meat is because fish flesh contains less collagen that other meats such as red meats and poultry. Fish have less collagen because their muscles are used much less then compared to a cow or chicken. Because fish has less collagen, it tends to be more tender than land animals.

But more important is the fact that fish have a fundamentally different kind of muscle tissue from that of most land animals. That’s why fish is tender enough to eat raw as sushi, whereas steak has to be chopped for steak tartare to render it vulnerable to the molars of omnivores.

In fish, muscle fibers are much shorter than they are in beef, and collagen dissolves easily during cooking. So fish cooks quickly and there’s no tenderizing to do. The processes of fibers coagulating and collagen softening happen almost simultaneously, and at lower temperatures than with beef.

The structures of fish and meat are similar in that they both have muscle fibers and connective tissues. In fish, connective tissues lie mainly in thin sheets that separate orderly layers of muscle fibers.

1)Fish has very little connective tissue. Fish is naturally tender. Need to be carefull not to overcook fish because it cooks very quickly even at low heat. Cooked fish must be handled very carefully or it will fall apart.

The bottom line By some definitions, fish is considered meat, and by others, it isn’t. Fish is the flesh of an animal used for food, and by that definition, it’s meat. However, many religions don’t consider it meat.

Cooking land animal meat and fish are entirely different from one another. Fish muscle fibers are shorter than beef muscle fibers, and fish collagen dissolves easily when exposed to heat—so fish cooks quickly and there should be no tenderizing needed for fish.

While they are both excellent sources of protein and add to your nutrient profile, the benefits of fish tend to be slightly higher than chicken, especially when it comes to the Omega-3 content in it.

In general, red meats (beef, pork and lamb) have more saturated (bad) fat than chicken, fish and vegetable proteins such as beans. Saturated and trans fats can raise your blood cholesterol and make heart disease worse. The unsaturated fats in fish, such as salmon, actually have health benefits.

Liver. Liver, particularly beef liver, is one of the most nutritious meats you can eat. It’s a great source of high-quality protein; vitamins A, B12, B6; folic acid; iron; zinc; and essential amino acids.