Meat thermometer the temperature should be at 74 °C (165 °F). For shellfish that are difficult to open, discard any that did not open during cooking. Meat thermometer A meat thermometer or cooking thermometer is a thermometer used to measure the internal temperature of meat, especially roasts and steaks, and other cooked foods. The degree of "doneness" of meat or bread correlates closely with the internal temperature, so that a thermometer reading indicates when it is cooked as desired. When cooking, food should always be cooked so that the interior reaches a temperature sufficient, that in the case of meat is enough
Mercury-in-glass thermometer Nowadays, the triple point of water is used instead of the freezing point (the triple point occurs at 273.16 kelvins (K), 0.01 °C). Before the discovery of the true thermodynamic temperature, the thermometer "defined" the temperature; thermometers made with different materials would define different temperature scales (a coloured alcohol thermometer would give a slightly different reading than a mercury thermometer at, say half-scale). In practice, several materials gave very similar temperatures to each other and, when discovered, to the thermodynamic temperature. One special kind of mercury-in-glass thermometer, called a maximum thermometer, works by having a constriction in the neck close