Why You Need One
These things are a MUST HAVE in every kitchen! Food thermometers are a staple in all professional kitchens and should be in your home as well. They will actually save people from getting sick. And make things taste and cook much better as well as cover your butt and give you confidence cooking or baking in the kitchen.
They are an extremely useful tool
Food thermometers save lives. Simple as that. If you were to serve someone raw chicken, you run the risk of getting them extremely sick and even sending them to the hospital. Salmonella is something that I do not wish on anyone. It can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, chills, and blood in stool. (Sorry you have to hear this but it needs to be heard.) This can last a long time and wreak havoc on your body.
Food Thermometers Save Lives
When I say that food thermometers save lives, I don’t necessarily mean that you will kill someone. What I mean is that they keep people out of the hospital. Keep people from suing you or your business. These are things that can ruin lives and neither party wants this at all. As a chef, we just want to give you the best meal you can have. And as a consumer, we just want to enjoy what the chefs create for us.
Food Thermometers Are Cheap
Food grade thermometers go for around $15. This is a cheap tool to keep around the kitchen and they last a long time when taken care of properly. That means that you can have peace of mind whenever you cook for a very long time.
I need to correct myself by saying that I specifically am talking about DIGITAL food thermometers. Why am I correcting myself? Because I need you to know that this is a very big difference. I cannot say that I have seen a non-digital one in a very long time. However, they do still exist and many people still have them.
Digital Food Thermometers
So I need to specify. The digital thermometer is what you need because there is no need to calibrate it constantly. A standard non-digital thermometer needs to be calibrated on a regular basis. They will get knocked around in drawers and move their needle around which severely throws off the actual temperature reading. This is why I say to GO DIGITAL. It will help you and everyone else in the long run.
Food For Thought
You want to make a nice roast chicken for your family to show off a new years resolution you may have to become better at cooking. The table is set and everyone is settled and ready to eat. You followed the directions to a T. You’re thinking this is going to be the best roast chicken that you or anyone at the table has ever tasted. The only problem is, you never took the proper temperature of your chicken. The directions clearly stated a specific amount of time that it needed to cook and they were followed to scientific precision.
You cut into the bird and your heart drops. It is still pink in the middle. What could have gone wrong? There is no food thermometer in your arsenal of tools and you never thought to use one. The recipe never said that you needed one. Just to cook the chicken for a specific amount of time. I know of people who have thought that the pinkness was okay because they know that the recipe was followed so the chicken must have been okay to eat. Of course it was fine because it was followed correctly right? Wrong, people got sick and it wasn’t pretty.
Use this personal recipe of mine for a roast chicken. I am sure that nobody will get sick as long as you follow the recipe and use a digital thermometer.
The Tools We Deserve
These tools we use in the kitchen help our customers, family, friends, and selves. We all want to enjoy ourselves and entertain others. And nobody wants to have a bad day when food is supposed to help us have a good day. Food shows love, and nobody wants love to be sickening. That’s just a bad relationship.