Testing Doneness

Appears in
Professional Cooking: 10th Edition

By Wayne Gisslen

Published 2025

  • About
Determining doneness is one of the most difficult and critical aspects of meat cooking. Anyone can put a steak on the grill or a roast in the oven. But it takes experience and skill to take it off the fire at the right time.
Color change cannot be used to test doneness because it would be necessary to cut the meat. Piercing the meat and examining the color of the juices is not a reliable method.