The short answer
Insert a digital food thermometer into the thickest part of the meat, pushing the probe toward the centre without touching bone. For barbecue checks, Health Canada says to move the meat to a clean plate off the grill first. For a hamburger patty, insert the thermometer through the side until the tip reaches the middle. If you are cooking several pieces, check each one. The temperature target and the probe location are separate decisions: the target tells you which reading you need, while placement determines whether the reading comes from the part that is most useful to check.
That is the answer most cooks need in a hurry. The catch is knowing when that advice applies. A thick roast and a thin burger do not offer the probe the same path. A whole bird adds joints, bones, and uneven thickness. Even two pieces from the same package can cook at different rates. Choose the insertion point from the food in front of you instead of reusing one catch-all instruction from a different meal.
Why the insertion point changes the reading
A food thermometer measures the small area around its sensing zone. It does not average the temperature of the whole steak, chicken, roast, or burger. If the sensing area stops near the surface, touches a bone, or sits in a thinner section, the display may not represent the part you meant to check.
A correct number on the screen can still come from an unhelpful location. The reading might be real for that point, but the point itself may not answer the cooking question. A thick roast can have a cooler interior than its outer layers. A burger gives you little room to work from the top. A whole bird has several areas that do not heat at the same pace.
That limitation makes "insert it in the centre" too vague as a universal instruction. On a fairly even piece, the centre and thickest part may be close. On an irregular cut, they may not be. Health Canada's guidance uses the thickest part and, for hamburgers, gives a separate side-entry method. Keep those food-specific instructions attached to the foods they describe instead of forcing every shape into one rule.
A practical placement guide for Canadian kitchens and grills
The table below separates what current Health Canada guidance supports from the points that depend on the exact food or thermometer.
| Food or situation | Where to place the thermometer | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| A thick piece of meat | Insert into the thickest part and aim toward the centre | Do not let the sensing area rest against bone |
| Hamburger patty | Insert through the side until the tip reaches the middle | Check each patty rather than assuming the batch is identical |
| Several pieces of meat | Check every piece individually | Size, shape, starting temperature, and grill position can differ |
| An irregular cut | Find the thickest section that the applicable food guidance tells you to check | Do not assume the visual middle is automatically the right point |
| A whole bird or another food with special placement guidance | Follow the current official instructions for that exact food | Do not borrow the hamburger method or a generic whole-cut rule |
| A very thin food that is not a hamburger | Check the food guidance and the thermometer's required insertion depth | Do not assume that every thin food uses the burger side-entry rule |
Side entry is useful for hamburgers, but the same approach may not suit every thin chop or fillet. The two current Health Canada pages used for this article specifically support side entry for hamburgers. They do not establish the same method for every thin food. For other thin foods, check the relevant food guidance and your thermometer's insertion-depth instructions before choosing an entry angle.
If you also need the current target temperature for beef, pork, poultry, fish, leftovers, or other foods, use the separate Canadian safe internal cooking temperature guide. It lists the targets in Celsius first. Choose the target for the food you are cooking, then check the probe location separately.
How to find the thickest part without guessing
Before touching the food with the probe, look at it from the side. The tallest or deepest section is often easier to identify from that angle than from directly above. On a steak or roast with an uneven profile, turn the food with your tongs if needed and compare the depth across the cut. You are looking for the section with the longest path from the surface toward the interior.
Then think about the route the probe will take. A straight downward entry may be convenient, but convenience is not the test. The sensing area needs to reach the intended section while staying away from bone. If the cut is awkwardly shaped, approach from an angle that lets the probe reach the thickest interior without bending the tool or forcing the food out of position.
Do not squeeze or compress the meat just to make a probe fit. Compression changes the shape you are trying to measure and can make it harder to judge depth. Hold the food steady, use a controlled insertion, and stop once the sensing area reaches the intended location. If your thermometer manual specifies a minimum insertion depth or shows where its sensor sits, follow that instruction. Probe designs differ, so a technique that works with one model may not place another model's sensing area in the same spot.
When you are unsure that the first reading came from the thickest part, withdraw the probe and take another careful reading nearby. The goal is not to hunt for a preferred number. It is to confirm that your placement represents the relevant part of the food. A second reading is useful when it tests the placement decision rather than when it is used to ignore an inconvenient result.
Where to insert a thermometer in a hamburger
A hamburger is the clearest exception to the top-down habit. Health Canada advises inserting a digital food thermometer through the side of the patty, all the way to the middle. Side entry gives the sensing area a longer path through a thin patty and makes the middle easier to reach.
Move the burger off the grill onto a clean plate before checking it. Approach the patty at its thickest edge, keeping the probe roughly parallel to the plate as you guide the tip toward the middle. If the burger is unusually thick or uneven, use the actual thickest edge rather than an arbitrary point on the circumference.
Check every hamburger. Patties that look alike can still differ in thickness, position over the heat, contact with the cooking surface, and starting temperature. The burger nearest a hot spot does not prove that the one near the cooler edge is ready. Batch cooking is exactly where a quick assumption can replace a measurement without anyone noticing.
Colour is not a reliable substitute for the thermometer. A burger may brown before it reaches the applicable target, and cooked meat can retain colour for reasons that do not tell you whether the centre has reached that target. Use the reading from the middle of each patty, then compare it with the current Canadian guidance.
What to do with whole birds and uneven foods
Whole birds deserve more care than a single generic centre check. Their shape includes thick muscle, thinner areas, joints, a cavity, and bones. One easy reading cannot be stretched into a universal statement about every part of the bird.
Use current official guidance for the exact bird and preparation. Identify each location the guidance tells you to check, and place the thermometer in the meat rather than against bone. If you are cooking a stuffed bird, treat the stuffing guidance as a separate requirement rather than assuming a meat reading answers both questions.
The same discipline applies to other uneven foods. A rolled roast, bone-in cut, stuffed item, or mixed tray may have a geometry that a simple diagram does not capture. Start with the official food-specific instructions, then use the thermometer manufacturer's sensor and insertion-depth information to put the sensing area in the intended location.
An instruction to "check the centre" can be hard to apply when the food has uneven thickness or bones, or when the thermometer needs a particular insertion depth. A practical shortcut is a decision process: name the food, find its current placement guidance, identify the thickest relevant section, and make sure the thermometer's sensing area can actually reach it.
A clean measurement routine from raw food to serving plate
Probe placement is only one part of a useful temperature check. The thermometer also moves between raw or partly cooked food, your hand, the work surface, and sometimes several pieces on the grill. A good routine keeps the measurement from becoming a cross-contamination shortcut.
- Start with a clean digital food thermometer and a clear target for the exact food.
- Keep raw food and ready-to-eat items on separate plates or surfaces.
- For a barbecue check, move the meat off the grill onto a clean plate.
- Insert the probe at the food-specific location and wait for the reading according to the thermometer's instructions.
- Remove the probe without dragging it across unrelated food or surfaces.
- Clean the thermometer with warm, soapy water between temperature readings, as Health Canada advises.
- Check each separate piece that needs a final reading.
- When the food is ready, move it to a clean plate rather than returning it to a plate that held raw meat.
For a conventional handheld thermometer, the cleaning instruction applies to the food-contact part while protecting the rest of the device according to its manual. For tongs with electronics or an integrated thermometer, do not assume that the whole tool can be immersed, rinsed under running water, placed in a dishwasher, or treated with a particular chemical. Follow the care instructions for the exact product. General food-safety advice does not establish the waterproofing or cleaning limits of an electronic tool.
Spot-check thermometer, leave-in probe, or thermometer tongs?
Before buying a thermometer, decide what kind of measurement you need. An instant-read thermometer is designed for spot checks. A leave-in probe monitors food over time while it cooks. They can both be useful, but they solve different jobs.
A spot-check tool should let you reach the right location safely and see the display without keeping the probe in the food for the whole cook. A leave-in system needs a probe and cable or wireless arrangement intended to remain in place. Do not leave an instant-read device in food unless its instructions expressly say that it is designed for that use.
Thermometer tongs combine the gripping and turning job with a built-in thermometer for spot checks. ThermoTongs for Canada is one example. The combination can reduce the need to put down one grill tool and pick up another, but it does not change the placement rule. The food still decides where the sensing area belongs.
Before choosing any model, ask four practical questions:
- Is it a spot-check tool, a leave-in monitor, or both?
- Where is the sensing area, and how much insertion depth does it need?
- Can the probe reach the thickest part of the foods you usually cook?
- Can you clean the food-contact area between readings without using a method the product instructions prohibit?
Those questions are more useful than comparing one headline speed or accuracy claim in isolation. A fast display cannot fix poor placement. A long probe is not automatically better if its sensing area cannot be positioned correctly in a thin food. A convenient handle does not replace the need to check every piece when the guidance calls for it.
If you use the integrated KINGEAR tool, the separate ThermoTongs usage guide covers the product workflow. This article stays focused on choosing the measurement location.
Common placement mistakes that change the answer
Treating the centre as a universal rule
The thickest part and the geometric centre are not always the same. Use the wording that applies to the food rather than replacing it with a simpler phrase.
Touching bone with the sensing area
Bone is not the section of meat you are trying to assess. Aim into the meat without resting the sensing area against bone. If the first route hits bone, withdraw and choose a better angle.
Checking one item and clearing the whole batch
Grills, pans, ovens, and food pieces are uneven. Health Canada says to check each piece separately. The largest or coolest-looking piece may be a sensible place to start, but it does not remove the need to check the others.
Copying the hamburger method to every thin food
The current Canadian guidance specifically gives side entry for hamburgers. It does not establish a universal side-entry rule for every chop, fillet, or thin cut. Use the relevant guidance and the thermometer's insertion requirements for the exact food.
Using colour as the final decision
Browning can be appealing, but it is not a temperature measurement. Health Canada warns that colour is not a reliable indicator that meat is safe to eat. Use the thermometer and the current target for the food.
Forgetting to clean between readings
A probe can move juices from one item to another. Clean it with warm, soapy water between temperature readings, and protect the electronic parts according to the product instructions.
A simple sequence for a busy barbecue
Picture a grill with six burgers, two thicker than the others, plus buns and toppings waiting on a side table. The useful sequence is not complicated, but it needs to be deliberate.
Keep the clean serving plate away from the raw-meat plate. Start with the thickest-looking burger and move it off the grill onto a clean plate for checking. Insert the thermometer through its side into the middle and compare the reading with the current Canadian target. Return any burger below its target to the grill for more cooking and another check. Clean the thermometer's food-contact part between readings. A checking plate or utensil that touches undercooked meat must not touch ready-to-eat food without cleaning. Use clean utensils to transfer ready burgers to the separate clean serving plate. Check every patty.
That sequence handles several jobs without adding much time. It uses the correct burger entry direction, accounts for piece-to-piece variation, keeps the measurement tool clean, and prevents cooked food from returning to a raw-meat plate. It also avoids the common habit of cutting a burger open and trying to judge doneness by colour.
If something about the product itself is unclear, such as care, warranty, or order support, use the KINGEAR Canada support page rather than improvising a cleaning or maintenance method.
Frequently asked questions
Where should I insert a meat thermometer?
Insert it into the thickest part of the meat and guide the sensing area toward the centre without touching bone. Use different food-specific guidance when it gives a more precise location, as Health Canada does for hamburgers.
Where does the thermometer go in a hamburger patty?
For a barbecue check, first move the burger to a clean plate off the grill. Insert the thermometer through the side of the patty until the tip reaches the middle. Approach through the thickest edge and check every patty separately.
Do I need to check every piece of meat?
Yes. Health Canada advises checking each piece separately. Pieces can differ in size, thickness, starting temperature, and exposure to heat even when they cook in the same batch.
Can I tell whether meat is ready by colour?
No. Colour is not a reliable indicator that meat has reached the applicable safe internal temperature. Use a digital food thermometer and compare the reading with current Canadian guidance for that food.
How should I clean the thermometer between readings?
Health Canada advises cleaning a digital food thermometer with warm, soapy water between temperature readings. Follow the product instructions for electronic parts and never assume that the whole device can be immersed or put in a dishwasher.
What should I check before buying a meat thermometer?
Confirm whether it is intended for spot checks or leave-in monitoring, where its sensing area is, how much insertion depth it needs, whether it can reach the foods you cook, and how the food-contact area should be cleaned. A useful thermometer must fit both the food and the measurement job.
Before you serve
Name the food and use its current Canadian placement guidance. For a barbecue check, first move it to a clean plate off the grill. Put the sensing area in the intended part and check every piece that needs a final reading. Clean the thermometer between checks and move cooked food to a clean plate. If the shape of the food or the design of the thermometer makes the location uncertain, pause and check the applicable instructions instead of borrowing a rule from a burger, roast, or whole bird.
Sources
- Health Canada: Safe cooking temperatures.
- Health Canada: Food safety tips for barbecuing.
