The Best Instant-Read Thermometer For Our Kitchen
What if we told you that there is a tool that can virtually guarantee that you will never overcook your food again? Too good to be true? Nope. It’s an instant-read thermometer, and with no better way in the world to know when food is perfectly cooked, everyone should have one.
You may have heard of other ways to know when food is ready. If you’re a barbecue aficionado, you may know that by pressing meat with a finger and comparing it to the firmness of the flesh on various points of your hand, you can identify the degree of doneness. While this may work for professional chefs who handle the exact same type of meat thousands of times a year, it’s not remotely practical or effective for home cooks. What about simply cutting into the meat to take a quick peek? That doesn’t work either, and worse still, allows precious juices to flow out of your meat. Are you into bread baking? How accurate do you think it can really be to tap on a loaf so that the sound determines if it’s done.
Cooking is all about temperature, and an instant-read thermometer is the #1 way to improve the quality of the food you prepare. Until we started using one, we never knew that we could completely rid ourselves of the uncertainty that so often accompanies cooking.
What Is It For
We Use Our Thermapen Mk4 For:
- Roasting meat (including expensive cuts!) in the oven.
- Grilling on the barbecue.
- Deep-frying on the stovetop.
- Poaching chicken or seafood.
- Baking bread.
- Checking the temperature of hot water for coffee.
Why It Is Great
Speed
A final temperature reading can typically be obtained in under 3 seconds. Speed is key, as you don’t want to have to leave the oven door open, keep your hand over the heat of your barbecue, or even lose accuracy as food overcooks while the temperature is still rising or has yet to stabilize.
Accuracy
The Thermapen Mk4 comes with a lab technician’s hand-written and signed “Certificate of Calibration,” and promises to always be accurate to within 0.7°F (0.4°C).
Temperature Range
-58.0 to 572.0°F (-49.9 to 299.9°C) should be good enough for most people!
All The Little Things
- A probe that adjusts to any angle.
- Auto-rotating display so that you don’t have to twist your neck to see the reading.
- Waterproof.
- Auto shut-off.
- Intelligent backlight which activates automatically in low light.
- Celsius or Fahrenheit readings.
- No buttons, app requirement, Bluetooth connection or wires of any kind.
- Uses a regular AAA battery (with a 3000 hour battery life).
What's Not To Like
- Price is always a tricky thing to analyze, but we figure that some people may be reluctant to drop $100 on a Thermapen Mk4. Yes, there are less expensive instant-read thermometers out there, but they don’t have the build quality and superior features of the Thermapen. Ultimately, what makes the Thermapen Mk4 life-changing is that it removes the anxiety associated with cooking, and we think that’s priceless.
- On the rare occasion that you have to change the single AAA battery, you’ll need to fiddle with a small Phillips head screwdriver.
- This is not a leave-in thermometer! It cannot be left in the oven.
Also Worth Knowing
- A high-quality instant-read thermometer not only helps improve cooking results, it also helps with food safety, especially when cooking meat. With a Thermapen, you’ll never again undercook food either!
- According to ThermoWorks, the Thermapen can check the internal temperature of:
- meats
- poultry
- fish
- vegetables
- casseroles
- desserts
- candy
- breads
- doughs
- sauces
- drinks
- bath water!
- The Thermapen Mk4 comes in 10 different colors.
- ThermoWorks products should only be purchased directly from ThermoWorks. The company does not sell through Amazon, eBay , etc., and warns customers that re-sellers distribute their products at elevated prices, and have even been known to sell counterfeit items. Tech support and the regular 2-year warranty are only available on products purchased directly from ThermoWorks.
Did You Know
ThermoWorks sends out very useful e-newsletters to their subscriber list, and even gives away a free Thermapen every week (for residents of the United States only). Email subscribers get new product announcements, special offers, recipes and tips on how to use their products. This is an e-newsletter we actually read. You can subscribe here.
We were in the market for a new meat thermometer as our old one (more than 10 years old!) just broke. So glad that you’ve done the research for me. We bought the Thermapen that you recommend and we should be receiving it in the next 2 to 5 days. I’ll let you know how it works. Thanks!
Good timing! You will not regret choosing the Thermapen. It’s an absolute pleasure to use. Good luck!