SC - Safe temperatures

[Bonne]

Wolfger von Sibenburgen wrote:
> 
> > Wolfger said....
> > Well, the "temperature danger zone" is between 40 and 140 degrees F.
> As
> > long as your food stays out of this area, you are pretty safe...
> 
> To which Micaylah replied...
> >       Thank you for the small lesson on kitchen
> > practices but you still didn't really answer my
> > question.
> >
> >       Perhaps I should rephrase it.
> >
> >       Given the properties inherent in cooking
> > poultry, would it be wise to further cook it in a
> > cooler where the "temperature danger zone" may be
> > attained?
> >
> 
> As long as the internal temperature of the chicken
> remains above 140 degrees, it should be fine. I would
> recommend obtaining a food service thermometer. Test
> be piercing the themometer into the largest chunk of
> chicken.
> 

That food guy, the one that scientifically tests all the things we "know"
about cooking, tested this. Well sort of.  A lot of recipes say to pull a
roast or chicken out of the oven at X point and let it "rest" under a cover
before serving. So, he kept a temperature probe in the chicken and recorded
that the temperature actually rose somewhat before levelling and then
dropping, this was over the course of 20 minutes or so under a foil tent or
some other lightweight covering.  He used a regular roast chicken and a
chicken with stuffing under the skin of the breast.  In the second, the
temperature rose higher and took longer to fall--the stuffing acted as
insulator. Soooo- it seems if the chicken were brought to a safe temperature
and then popped into a sealed and insulated cooler along with it's hot pan and
cover to complete cooking, all should be well.  The cooler would probably
allow the temperature to stay hotter longer than the foil in his test.  The
trouble would come if the chicken were left in there so long that it cooled to
the danger zone and then stayed in there long enough for the available bad
guys to get started.  

I with I could remember the guys name--begins with an H.  I read this in
Smithsonian magazine 2 or 3 years ago.  He has a big thick book out that is
becoming a standard reference in many professional kitchens and cooking
schools. 

Bonne
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