Is "until juices run clear" a valid test for poultry doneness? Why...

grill_gus

I've come across this particular recommendation many times in various recipes and cookbooks and probably even given it out myself once or twice. Poultry is sufficiently cooked when the juices run clear, not red or pink. In recent months and years, as I've grown more interested in and knowledgeable about the science of cooking, I've learned to be...

Originally asked by Aaronut on Stack Exchange (cooking) (CC BY-SA 2.5).

uphilltech

Good cooking question — answering as the UphillTech team:

Chicken juices contain a soupy mix of proteins including haemoglobin (which gives blood its red colour when mixed with oxygen), and some myoglobin (which gives red meat its red colour when mixed with oxygen). Up to about 140F, they are unchanged, but heat them to between 140F and 160F and they lose their ability to bind oxygen and so their colours change. So if your juices are running clear, you know the temperature is at least higher then 140F and probably closer to 160F if they are indeed clear. The question of what is 'doneness' is an interesting one. For most foods, doneness is a question...

Full answer by Paul L: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/11527 (CC BY-SA 2.5).

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