When cooking, knowing the temperature of your ingredients can be just as critical as knowing how much time has passed. Recipes often ask to cook something to a particular temperature, such as 165°F for chicken thighs or 130°F for medium-rare steak.
Digital Meat Thermometers For Accurate Cooking: Why Temperature Matters and How Thermometers Help
In the kitchen, there are lots of reasons to know the exact temperature of your food. For example, yeast works best at a certain temperature range; if it's too hot or too cold - it won't work at all. Bread dough should be between 75° and 80°F to help it rise. And hollandaise sauce can curdle easily if it gets too hot.
In addition to helping you perfect your craft in the kitchen, using a food thermometer can also help prevent potentially deadly food poisoning. We test dozens of digital meat thermometers each year to find out which are worth buying.
How Digital Meat Thermometers for Accurate Cooking Work
The probe of the Thermapen ONE, our top-rated instant-read thermometer, is about 4¼ inches long. Because the probe is inserted into the food, it can read the internal temperature of a beef roast - chicken thigh, or pot of hollandaise. Thermometers can read temperatures from about -58°F to 572°F, depending on the model, making they ideal for everything from a marinating brine to cooking sous vide to grilling steak.
Smart Meat Thermometers That Connect to Your Phone
Some new thermometers are compatible with smartphones and can send alerts when your food has reached a certain temperature. For example, Consumer Reports tested four smart kitchen thermometers made by Meater - MeatStick, ThermoPro, and Yummly. These connect to your phone via Bluetooth, allowing you to monitor the progress of your cooking remotely, set alerts - and even control some functions using an app.
What to Know About Thermoworks and the Thermapen ONE
One of the most popular brands of kitchen thermometers, Thermoworks makes our top three picks. The Thermapen ONE gives a reading in just 1 second. In testing, it was always within a margin of error of 0.07 degrees.
"The Thermapen ONE has a steeper learning curve than the other smart thermometers," says one reviewer on Amazon, "but once you learn how to use it - it's the best thermometer ever invented."
The biggest downside of the Thermapen ONE is the lack of replaceable batteries - reviewers complain about having to return the entire unit if the power dies. The ThermoWorks Sizzle, another model from Thermoworks, promises a longer battery life of 5,000 hours.
FDA Rules for Temperature Monitoring and Food Safety
Under 21 CFR Part 117, the FDA has established thorough requirements for temperature monitoring in food facilities. The FDA Food Code establishes specific - scientifically-validated temperature parameters that have been proven to prevent pathogen growth and ensure food safety. These parameters are measured and monitored using a food thermometer, which provides a critical record for ensuring that proper temperatures are maintained in the holding, preparation, and displaying of foods.
According to the FDA, temperature controls are among the most important tools to minimize the opportunity for pathogen survival - growth, or toxin production in foods. Temperature control is achieved by holding potentially hazardous foods at the appropriate temperatures. Holding food at improper temperatures is one of the critical factors contributing to foodborne illness.
How People Cook Without Thermometers and the Risks They Face
According to researchers Rhodes et al., the USDA/Economic Research Service (ERS) estimated that only 13.7 percent of at-home meal preparers used a food thermometer while preparing meals with meat, poultry, or seafood. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested an estimated 9.4 million cases of foodborne illnesses per year caused by 31 pathogens led to approximately 56 -000 hospitalizations and 1,400 deaths each year.
In 2018, the economic impact of these pathogens exceeded $17 billion, marking a $2 billion or 13 percent increase from 2013. The USDA/Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) reports that ground beef, chicken - and turkey products are the most common sources of recalls due to pathogenic bacteria. Thermometers should be used in at least four steps of the Be Food Safe campaign: Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill.
Best Practices for Using a Digital Meat Thermometer
Using a food thermometer is easy! Insert it into the thickest part of the meat, making sure not to touch bone - fat, or gristle. Refer to the USDA Temperature Chart for Cooking Food to see the temperatures to which various kinds of meat need to be cooked. Let your cooked meat rest for the amount of time specified by your recipe to allow the heat to penetrate and destroy harmful germs.
Be sure to clean your thermometer between uses with warm water and soap or a sanitizing wipe. Check your thermometer occasionally for accuracy using a cup of ice water or a pot of boiling water. Visit the USDA FSIS page on Using a Food Thermometer for more details.
References
- tested four smart kitchen thermometers - consumerreports.org
- 13.7 percent - videos.anfponline.org
