The Columns Explained
The Heating and Cooling Times specify how long it takes a piece of meat, with a particular shape, to heat all the way to the center. The center of the meat will come up to about 1° less than the water bath temperature in the time given. The final degree takes a much longer time and generally does not contribute to the final taste or texture of the food.
The temperature of the water bath does not affect the heating time, but remember that you should not cook food at less than 130°F (54°C) for more than 4 hours. If you want to cook a piece of food at a lower temperature, you can cut it into smaller portions so it heats more quickly. The times shown are also minimum times and food can be, and sometimes needs to be, left in for longer periods in order to fully tenderize the meat.
The "Heating Beef, Lamb, Pork" section shows times both for frozen and refrigerated foods. These times generally do not vary much as the water bath temperature changes. These times usually apply to all types of meats except fish, though chicken and poultry are almost always cooked to pasteurization and have been left off for clarity. If you have some other type of meat (moose, bear, rabbit, etc.) you can use these heating charts as long as you remember it is not pasteurizing the meat.
If you are cooking food and then storing it in the refrigerator or freezer, the "Cooling Meat" section gives the times that food needs to be in an ice bath before the center is chilled out of the danger zone. Make sure the ice bath is at least one half ice.
The "Fish" column gives the heating times for fatty fish. Remember that these times will not pasteurize the fish.
The Pasteurization Times let you know how long you need to cook something for it to be effectively pasteurized and safe to eat. Like the Heating and Cooling times, they are not exact, but are also on the longer side for safety reasons.
With so many temperatures included it is easy to interpolate the times for any temperature you want.
For even more timing information, you can check out my detailed cooking by thickness charts.