DrDave said:
A good chef does not need the thermometer.
Hmmm ... I agree and disagree.
When cooking at home, I rarely use a thermometer because when it's just me or a small party of less than 20 people, I'm not particularly worried. On the other hand, if I'm in a restaurant kitchen with a busy staff ... if I have l have line cooks coming on shift and going off shift ... if there are fifteen tickets in the window with multiple orders on each ticket ... then thermometers become very useful.
Any dish that goes out undercooked is a meal that may well have to be comped ... and comped meals lose money and engender negative feedback.
Health inspectors also like to see thermometers in use. Depending upon your county, restaurants may well be required to have one or more thermometer in each freezer, refrigerator, or walk-in.
All hot holding devices such as steam tables, steam drawers, heat lamps, and hot cabinets should also be checked on a regular basis to verify holding temperatures. Units that are too hot dry out food but if the temperature is too cool, you may find yourself slapped with a health code violation for time/temperature controls.
It's also never a good idea to strictly rely on the temperature control especially if you have new equipment because one never knows whether the unit was properly calibrated. Since even calibrated units are subject to equipment failure, having one or more thermometers handy is always a good idea.