Doneness

For the most part, in these recipes I don’t bother giving details about how to tell if a dish made in the slow cooker is done. If it’s been cooking for eight hours, it’s done. The meat will almost certainly be much hotter than the minimum safe temperature, and there’s nothing to worry about, safety-wise. For reference, though, in case you’re adapting or using other recipes—and if you’re cooking any of these for less than eight hours for some reason—the following are the recommended safe temperatures for meats, which you can check with an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part and not touching a bone: