Thermapen

arknor said:
even the cheap ones seem to work fine imo.

tested the one I used to have with boiling water and the temp in my fridge. (fridge has a digital temp readout)

seemed spot on and I think it was like 6.99
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It's not really about accuracy, it's about speed. The cheap probes I've had, I usually have to leave them in the meat for 20 seconds or so until they give a correct reading. A thermapen will give you a reading in a maximum of 3 seconds, and mine is practically instant, giving me an accurate temperature in about 1 second.
 
I wouldn't be without my Thermapen now. I initially bought it for smoking, but it gets used in the kitchen every single day without fail. It's nice to know that when cooking chicken for our toddler, that we've definitely cooked it right through to the middle. I don't mind cooking chicken to usual timings and look / feel for myself and my wife, but I wouldn't forgive myself if our little one got ill. We've used it for all meats, and even when baking cakes. It is the single most useful bit of kitchen kit that I own. I'm sorely tempted to buy another at £30!
 
Agreed, I really wanted to buy another one but can't really justify the use!

It's great for making sure you don't over cook chicken breast, take it off about 150-155F and let the rest carry the temp a bit higher, perfectly cooked juicy chicken!
 
ganesh said:
It's not really about accuracy, it's about speed. The cheap probes I've had, I usually have to leave them in the meat for 20 seconds or so until they give a correct reading. A thermapen will give you a reading in a maximum of 3 seconds, and mine is practically instant, giving me an accurate temperature in about 1 second.
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yea it did take about 10-15 seconds but didn't seem an issue to me
 
Picked one up today, wanted one of these for a while!
The company that makes them is only a mile or so from where I live
Might be useful if I ever need it re-calibrated!
 
arknor said:
yea it did take about 10-15 seconds but didn't seem an issue to me
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Watching a temperature reading slowly crawl up annoys me, also thermapens are used a lot on the BBQ scene in the UK & US where the speed is very important. You don't want to be standing with the lid off for 15 seconds while all the heat escapes.
 
ganesh said:
Watching a temperature reading slowly crawl up annoys me, also thermapens are used a lot on the BBQ scene in the UK & US where the speed is very important. You don't want to be standing with the lid off for 15 seconds while all the heat escapes.
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Even less so when you're cooking a steak on a screaming hot griddle pan. 15secs could be the difference between medium-rare and medium (yuck :p).

I haven't used my Thermapen yet but I was doing a chicken stir fry last night and did my usual method of just cutting the larger chicken bits in half to check they're done. It's not much issue as obviously it's a stir fry but it did occur to me that I could have used the Thermapen. Anyone used it in a (proper) wok? I'm guessing the difficulty would be the heat :p
 
15 seconds when heating sugar to make caramel is the difference between edible and bin-fodder. I love my thermapen :)
 
Following on from my last post (from August!), ETI (the company that produces Thermapen) are selling some reduced Chef Alarms (their version of a leave-in thermometer) here on eBay at the moment for £18 inc P&P. Normally about £32 with postage.

As far as I can tell they're pretty much the best leave-in thermometers you can buy without heading into thermocouple territory. Came out as best thermometer in America's Test Kitchen and Cooks Illustrated.

I do love my Thermapen, but I find leave-in thermometers for versatile.

You can buy an additional needle tip probe online which is waterproof and designed for sous vide too.

Review is here.
 
I thought it was a bit expensive for a food thermometer but then when you chaps mentioned that it can tell the temp in like 3 seconds I changed my mind cause that is incredibly useful.
 
Brilliant things, bought one each for my brother in law and best friend for Christmas this year. Fantastic devices!
 
Jolteh said:
Following on from my last post (from August!), ETI (the company that produces Thermapen) are selling some reduced Chef Alarms (their version of a leave-in thermometer) here on eBay at the moment for £18 inc P&P. Normally about £32 with postage.

As far as I can tell they're pretty much the best leave-in thermometers you can buy without heading into thermocouple territory. Came out as best thermometer in America's Test Kitchen and Cooks Illustrated.

I do love my Thermapen, but I find leave-in thermometers for versatile.

You can buy an additional needle tip probe online which is waterproof and designed for sous vide too.

Review is here.
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Nice. Placing an order.
 
Ooh tempting. ETI are an awesome company - I bought a superfast thermapen and had used it for ~6 years but it eventually broke due to the wiring which goes through the hinge between the probe and the body corroding/breaking.

I emailed them on the offchance they could sort me out with a replacement bit but instead they sent me out a whole new thermometer for free including P&P :).
 
Ordered a ChefAlarm, thanks. Love my Thermapen, great for meat etc but gets as much use for baking. It's great to be able to know when bread and cakes are done with certainty.
 
edit: just realised this is an old thread. :o

Anyone got a link? I searched Thermapen but there are non from ETI that are £30.

I ordered a ChefAlarm though, I was on the look out for a new leave-in thermometer as the one I bought a year or so ago does not seem accurate and can take a while to detect temperature. The most annoying thing though was there was no way to shut off the alarm without turning the unit off.

Thanks for the tip on the ChefAlarm, hopefully will come in useful.
 
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bsoltan said:
edit: just realised this is an old thread. :o

Anyone got a link? I searched Thermapen but there are non from ETI that are £30.

I ordered a ChefAlarm though, I was on the look out for a new leave-in thermometer as the one I bought a year or so ago does not seem accurate and can take a while to detect temperature. The most annoying thing though was there was no way to shut off the alarm without turning the unit off.

Thanks for the tip on the ChefAlarm, hopefully will come in useful.
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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Splash-Pr...hash=item41a2463e7b:m:m8lbewC8GZbs9RWR5hx50XQ

This is the one you want, I've had mine about 2 years now and it's been perfect, pretty much use it daily.
 
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