13
While I heartily recommend a remote probe thermometer that you can leave in your meat and have a readout outside of the oven, it is only for convenience. Piercing the meat with a thermometer (or fork, etc) isn't going to cause any significant loss of juice. You may rupture a couple of cells right where the thermometer went in, but that's it. Your meat isn't ...
9
I'd suggest a digital probe thermometer AND an instant read digital thermometer like the OXO (which is pretty cheap) or the Thermapen (which isn't). A leave-in probe lets you monitor the general progress of the food, giving you a good way to gauge how much cooking time remains without having to open the oven and slow down the process. The instant read ...
8
Many ovens in the US have such a feature.
However, ovens lie. Even if thermostats and thermocouples in ovens were scientifically accurate (they are not), they are positioned on the outside walls of the oven, not the center of the oven where you are actually doing the cooking. This might not be an issue if you are baking a frozen pizza (if this is the ...
7
That is ridiculous. 5% is simply too large for an acceptable margin of error. I'll accept 2 degrees F tops, and I have never spent that much on a thermometer.
If you want to spend that kind of money, this one won America's Test Kitchen testing:
That's the Thermopen. It's accurate to less than a degree F and it gives a reading in 3 seconds.
These two ...
7
Checking for redness is not a good indicator of doneness. For instance, freezer burned chicken tends to look less red or pink--taking on white spots and a grayish color. Some meats will also stay red no matter what. Think back to every time you saw real pork bacon. Were the meat strips ever any color except red, even when fried to a crisp?
The most ...
7
The problem is that such gas bubbles tend to affect the shape of the liquid around them in unpredictable ways, so it's not sufficient to just try to "add" the small bit of liquid to the large one if accuracy is desired -- the surfaces on these bits of liquid may be bent in various ways, making it hard to get a reading. Also the expansion of the liquid and ...
7
If they provide the tolerance, and the product measures within that tolerance, it is an accurate tool according to the manufacturer. There is always some error...or potential error... in any type of measurement. To me, the most important thing here is that the manufacturer has provided you with the tolerance of their product; that is, + or - 4C. For most ...
6
The "correct" temperature is determined by using a properly calibrated thermometer. This will likely not match the 'setting' which you have dialed up on your stove because oven thermostats are notoriously unreliable. You should be able to arrive a correlation between the setting you use and watching the thermometer you bought. Remember that each time you ...
6
Fat/juice release and overcooking are not the same thing. Release of liquid (including a bit of fat/oil) is not just a sign of overcooking. Sous vide fish, even down in the 110-125F (43-52C) range, releases liquid, and it's definitely not overcooked.
The overcooked fish smell is not just because of fat, and does not happen with short cooking at 50-55C. If ...
5
It will measure the temperature of the glass itself, but not necessarily in an accurate way. Most glass is largely opaque to IR, but will radiate IR of it's own based on temperature.
The trick with IR thermometers is that they are guessing the temperature of an object by making an assumption about how much IR (Infrared Radiation) that object will radiate ...
5
If water got in you can get it out. Your thermometer is the circular analog type and it has more than one piece. There's one piece with the probe and dial, and then there's a circular cover with the glass on it. The water got into the thermometer through the seam where the 2 pieces meet, and this is where you'll get the water out, you just have to figure out ...
5
You are correct to be concerned.
In all likelihood, the hardware store thermocouple is not suitable for food use as it would contain metals you don't want to ingest. Here is a table of industrial grade thermocouple materials, note presence of some undesirable metals:
Source.
You would want a thermocouple specifically made for food use. Example. I found ...
5
In your case it's definitely worth leaving it in, because it will help you get to the bottom of whether things are burning because the temperature keeps rising during cooking.
Oven thermometers are generally designed so that they can be left in. I prefer the type that can hang from a rack
4
Yes, it is too much. Chocolate has very tight working intervals. Dark chocolate must be used at 32°C. Below 30°C, it is too thick for use, and at 35°C, the cocoa butter separates from the chocolate. An error interval of 4°C when your complete workable interval is 5°C wide is simply unacceptable. You want a thermometer with a much higher precision, actually ...
4
I have a digital meat thermometer which reads just about instantly, is accurate, and goes up to about 500F degrees. I can absolutely not see why I shouldn't be able to use it.
And I have no qualms in using a thermometer that has been in contact with meat. If you don't clean the tip after that, you have no place in a kitchen anyway.
4
No, it's pretty much just a sign it's cooked. One of the common tests for doneness for fish is that the layers flake apart. For something that small, that means the whole fish can break up.
It could also be overcooked (it's not like it stops being flaky once it gets at all past cooked) but it can't be that badly overcooked at that temperature.
4
I don't have enough reputation to put this as a comment.
Have you checked the calibration on your thermopen?
The instructions are here
Briefly:
in ice water your thermopen should read 32F
in boiling water your thermopen should read about 212F (depends on altitude)
Additionally, very thin meats will be difficult to measure.
4
The 300 Celsius you refer to are the air temperature inside the oven. The energy in your oven is quite sufficient to heat a piece of metal to much over 300 (in fact, judging from the color I have seen on my heating elements, they are probably in the 600-700 C range). But the air around them has quite bad thermal qualities, and doesn't heat up well. It also ...
3
Welcome! You don't say where you are located. In the U.S., most ovens have an audible sound such as a beep or a buzzer to let you know that the set temperature has been reached. Some may have a light indicator.
However, even though most have this feature, many people still keep a separate thermometer in the oven (at least until they learn the nuances of ...
3
120°C is what's known as the firm ball stage of caramelisation, because when you drop some of the caramel into cold water, you should then be able to make a firm but still pliable ball with it. You can use this to determine the approximate temperature. This page lists all the stages so you can determine how far along you are.
3
Usually only a portion of the needle of a typical meat thermometer reads the temperature. On some models this is indicated with an indentation on the needle. It is usually near the end, though not always exactly at the end. The thermometer reads the temperature the location of this part of the thermometer. You want to know the temperature at the center of ...
3
The sensor in your thermometer is located at the tip of the needle, so you're measuring wherever the tip of the needle ended up.
If the tip of the needle it not touching anything (or is touching the pan or cooking surface) your readings will be skewed.
3
When taking the temperature of a thinner steak, I pick the steak up with a set of tongs and insert the thermometer into its side. Aim to position the tip of the probe in the coolest part of the steak - probably the center and away from the bone, if it has one.
Your goal is to find the coolest temperature inside the steak.
3
It's the range at which it will display an accurate reading.
Or in some cases, any reading.
Update : I guess the terminology is different for this thermometer, as it says "Guaranteed accuracy ±2°F to 248°F" suggesting that it can handle 248°F ... so I'm guessing that in this case, it's talking about the ambient air temperature. (and it's possible that the ...
3
Sorry, you'll have to open the door. IR Thermometers will typically only read the "exposed area and not through glass."
Further:
Don't try to use IR to read "through" a glass window. While an IR thermometer's target indicator light can be transmitted through glass, the actual "read" will be of the glass surface and surroundings rather than that of the ...
3
Don't use the stick it in and leave it thermometers... get yourself a good insta-read. You want to take multiple readings from all over the roast not just one spot. Most chefs have a good insta-read in their sleeve pocket at all times. Even good ones don't cost a huge amount of cash and they last for years.
IMHO avoid the digitals. I don't like ...
3
It sounds like there is only one temperature that you can be absolutely sure of.... that water boils at the local boiling point. Since you haven't mentioned high altitude cooking, I am going to assume that is close to 212 F / 100 C. You also haven't said what sides you want to make so I am going to assume the traditional US type ones...
So things like ...
3
The flexible generalist thermometer of the kitchen, the instant read thermometer, should be quite suitable measuring the temperature of the water for tea brewing. It covers the right range, has reasonable accuracy, and responds relatively quickly.
You can get traditional ones such as the classic Taylor model very inexpensively, or high quality electronic ...
3
I tend to just stick it close to where the food cooks. From the two options you name that would mean putting it on the rack, not hanging under it.
I checked a couple of sources and found this one quite a nice read.
3
There are "potato nails" marketed for speeding up cooking of baked potatoes by conducting heat into the center of the potato. This testing showed about a 10% reduction in cooking time. Cooks's Illustrated also tested potato nails, and showed a 7-minute reduction over a 75-minute control. They also tested a potato with five potato nails, which reduced cooking ...
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