The numbers behind the timer.
Source charts give the starting point. Your food and appliance determine the finish.
Three kinds of cooking range
Direct entries retain the source’s named food, temperature and time. Source entry names preserve the chart’s basket quantity or physical shape. Portion controls describe one piece or a planning portion, separately from total basket load; fixed pan and preparation cases do not offer a weight adjustment. Category models apply a chart’s physical category to a named food, such as a white-fish fillet; they are not separate appliance tests. Adjusted ranges change a baseline using explicit planning formulas.
Size and thickness
For a portion model, the size factor is (selected size / reference size)^0.65. When you supply thickness, its factor (selected thickness / reference thickness)^0.9 replaces weight scaling. These editorial exponents avoid assuming that twice the weight always means twice the time. They are estimates within the stated bounds.
Temperature
For adjustable portion models, the time factor is ((reference °F - 70) / (selected °F - 70))^0.7. The 70°F value is a modelling reference, not an instruction to bring raw food to room temperature. Fixed pan, boiling and per-pound charts retain their source temperature. Never lower an oven below the model’s bounds.
Frozen food
Prepared frozen entries already use their chart’s frozen time. COSORI’s general extra 2-5 minutes is a starting cue where supported; oven poultry uses a clearly labelled 50% longer estimate. Salmon’s oven method has a separate frozen baseline. Package instructions and safe internal temperature take priority. Frozen meat is not supported in slow cookers.
Roasting and doneness
USDA total-time bands stay intact. Shared weight boundaries use the lighter published band, which we document and test. Per-pound charts multiply both ends by the weight, within the published cut limits. Turkey above 24 lb is an explicitly labelled extrapolation and is not indexed. A well-done setting adds 15% as a preference estimate; it never lowers a safe minimum.
Air-fryer conversion
Ninja advises a 25°F reduction from a conventional oven recipe. Our time starting factor is 0.8, adjusted by (1700 / watts)^0.15, a 1.1 full-basket factor and a heat correction if the appliance temperature is capped. Check 10% before that estimate. The wattage and load formulas are editorial heuristics, not manufacturer guarantees.
Thawing and reheating
Turkey refrigerator estimates allow about one day per 4-5 lb, rounding up to complete days. Small protein portions may need a full day; larger non-turkey portions use the same conservative weight heuristic. Cold water uses about 30 minutes per pound and requires immediate cooking. Reheating uses named InstantHeat oven references; transferring general-leftover guidance to a food or basket appliance is explicitly labelled. Always verify 165°F.
Boiling at altitude
Water’s boiling point falls with elevation. We approximate 2°F per 1,000 ft and apply 1 + max(0, altitude ft - 1,000) / 25,000 to the time. This continuous factor is a planning estimate, not an official USDA equation. Test texture locally; assess safety separately. Soft and jammy eggs need pasteurized eggs.
Safety endpoints are separate
FoodSafety.gov and FDA establish minimum internal temperatures, rest periods and shell-egg or shellfish doneness cues. We never infer safety from a timer, color alone or a modelled time. A thermometer beats any timer.