Buying a Kitchen Thermometer

Kitchen thermometers insure that all your culinary efforts are not only free from the things that can make us sick, but also that the foods are done to your liking. Since color isn’t a dependable sign of how cooked the interior of a dish is, a thermometer eliminates guess work and improves safety.

Overall, it’s usually a good idea to have one thermometer for meat, and another for baking, although there are models that combine both. Let’s take a look at what the market offers:

Kitchen thermometers are made digital as well

Deep Fry & Candy Thermometer: These are designed for higher heats than the average kitchen thermometer. It’s important that they’re designed in such a way as to be shatter proof and attachable to the side of the pan so the thermometer’s tip doesn’t touch the bottom (which skews the reading).

Instant-Read Thermometer: This looks like a large tack, the top of which is a temperature gauge. Simply put the needle end into the dish and it reads the temperature in about 20 seconds. This is ideal for use on soup, roast, and casserole. Most instant read thermometers aren’t designed for use in the oven, and they’re available in both numeric and digital readouts. A twist on the instant-read thermometers is a fork that functions similarly, which is great for barbecue and broiling. These are not intended to be left in the dish while cooking, however.

Probe Thermometer: This thermometer is placed in specific locations of a dish and remains there throughout cooking. You’ll want one that’s easy to read, and possibly one that offers the option of a timer as a back up to your usual timing methods.

A top range thermometer in digital cost a bit more

Popup Thermometers: These are one-use items best for roasts and poultry. They’re convenient and relatively reliable.

One final thing: as you’re looking at thermometers see if you can find one that can be calibrated. Every oven is a little different, and you’ll want as accurate readings as possible when cooking. The manufacturer’s information and instructions will indicate if calibration is available on a specific model.

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