Meat & Fish Cooking Timer

What are you cooking?

Safety & tips

• Use a probe thermometer. Cook times are a good starting point, but ovens vary, joints have hot spots, and fish fillets taper. An instant-read probe in the thickest part is the only way to be certain — target internal temps are shown above for the cut you picked.
• Poultry and pork mince / sausages: must reach 74 °C (165 °F) in the thickest part. Juices should run clear with no pink. Whole-muscle pork can safely be served blushing pink at 63 °C (USDA) after a 3-minute rest.
• Whole-muscle beef and lamb can be cooked to any doneness you prefer — the outside is seared, which is where bacteria live. Mince / burgers are different: always 71 °C internal.
• Fish is done at 52–55 °C (just translucent / flaking in the middle) for salmon and tuna, and 60 °C for white fish like cod, haddock and sea bass. Tuna steak is often served rare at 45 °C.
• Rest every roast and steak. Carry-over cooking continues after the heat comes off. Rest 5 minutes for a steak, 15–20 minutes for a small joint and 30–40 minutes for a turkey or large joint, loosely tented in foil.
• Frozen meat: most cuts cook fine from frozen but take about 50% longer and should be started at a lower temperature to let the core catch up. Stuffed joints and whole birds should be fully thawed for food safety.
• Fan oven? If your recipe is for a conventional oven, turn fan-oven temperatures down by 20 °C / 35 °F. The tool shows fan-oven equivalents where relevant.

Cook times assume a preheated oven / pan / BBQ and standard cuts at the weight or thickness you enter. For unusually shaped joints (rolled shoulders, stuffed birds, butterflied cuts) add 5–10 minutes and check the internal temperature before resting.