PSA: Chef Pals meat thermometer is not your Pal
2Not sure if this came up with a previous Fuko when these were included but be careful when using your Chef Pals thermometers. I received a few chickens in the this recent Fuko blitz but don’t think I will be using them and probably the best place for them is the trash.
The instructions indicate the thermometer will begin to make noise and flash when the meat hits 160 degrees and is done. Well chicken isn’t done until 165. Would hate for folks to get sick trusting this thermometer.
It could be used as an indicator the meat is nearing finished but be sure to keep cooking for a while longer to ensure it is done and use a different thermometer to check. I do not have a pork one, but I would also be wary with those. The beef one may be safe as rare beef is usually fine unless its a burger, cook those through.
Seems like it could be a fun product but this inaccuracy is probably why Meh had plenty to bless us with. I will use the batteries at the very least!
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Meat continues to cook after you take it off the heat. Waiting until 165 means well past done by the time you eat it.
edit: rare burgers are perfectly safe as well as long as you don’t buy the stuff that is ground up in huge batches at meat packing plants.
edit: 160 will likely end up overdone as well, but if you’re paranoid it’s ok.
@Seeds Thank you for your thoughts! I may just be paranoid but had a bad sickness from some undercooked chicken a few years back. I do not wish that upon anyone so just wanted to provide a heads up to folks.
I agree about the burgers but many people are purchasing the stuff from meat packing plants.
@thewynner
Damn shame.
@Seeds Totally agree! I buy most of my meat from a local locker. Prices are slightly higher than the grocery store but taste is light years ahead.
“Light years ahead”? Does that mean it’s relatively better?
@thewynner For sure. I always got meat from the supermarket growing up, and I was shocked by the difference now that I go to the butcher.
@Seeds @thewynner I personally wouldn’t trust these things to be correct at 160.
@Seeds It continues to cook, but I don’t expect the core temp will continue to rise after removal from the heat source. It’s possible, I suppose, if the surrounding tissues were quite a lot hotter and the mass of cooler tissues is smaller than the mass of hotter tissues, but it depends on a lot of factors. If 165 is needed to kill bacteria I’d want to check it to be sure.
@macromeh “Better” is by its nature a relative word, as it is used to compare one thing to another.
@moondrake If you have something surrounded by 350 degrees of heat for awhile and the core is lower than 165, then yes the core temp will continue to rise significantly.
https://blog.thermoworks.com/2010/11/give-your-meat-a-rest/
You can check yourself with a thermometer too.
@moondrake And “relative” is also a term used in physics, for example when discussing the speed of light.
@macromeh if you have a problem with hyperbole i will build a wall just to put you through it
I don’t know.
Chicken carpaccio and poultry tartare are sure to be the next big food breakthroughs. Yes, the probability of an ER visit will be high, and a few poor schmucks will likely not make it, but the excitement factor will more than make up for the silly food-borne hazards.
We should thank Meh for shipping a surprise product that is on the cutting edge of culinary culture…
@shahnm Probably served on a bed of romaine…
Now I don’t feel so bad I didn’t get one or three of these in my Fuko.
Become a vegetarian. Problem solved.
@Pavlov
/wootstalker https://shirt.woot.com/offers/meatatarian
Meatatarian
Price: $19.00
Condition: New
I just bite the heads off poultry and consume raw.
165 is the temperature that pasteurizes the chicken instantly. You can do it at a lower temperature, it’s just not instant. Even at 160 it’s less than 30 seconds I believe.
You can cook as low as 140 if you can control the temp long enough. Sous vide for example.