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There are people who claim they can tell if meat is done by touching it. I am certainly not one of them, and, generally, I prefer that whoever is cooking my food uses something a little more scientific—say, ameat thermometer—to test the doneness of my meal. It’s not that I don’t trust an experienced chef to poke at my food with their finger to see when it’s reached asafe, but not overcooked, temperature, but if I had to choose between afeelingand a precise reading, I’m going with the thermometer 100% of the time.
When cooking on the stovetop, an instant-read thermometer is usually a sufficient tool for this task. You can pop it in and out of the thickest part of the meat, fish, or poultry as many times as needed without causing any sudden temperature changes. But when you’re cooking in an enclosed vessel like agrillorsmoker, a wireless thermometer is a much better option because you can leave the probe in your meat and monitor the temperature remotely, either on a transmitter or via a phone app, and receive an alert when it reaches the target temp.
A wireless device means no guessing, and more important, no opening the lid to poke at your food with a fingerora thermometer. Lifting the lid on a grill or smoker causes immediate temperature drops, and then you often have to burn through extra charcoal to get it back where it was. And all of it adds more time to your cook.
Wireless thermometers are game changers for outdoor cooking, but we live in the future now (well, at least technologically speaking) and one device, the Meater Plus, does so much more than just beep at you when your food has reached its ideal internal temperature.
The Meater smart thermometer looks like a short stainless-steel stylus, but it’s really an invaluable tool for anyone who’s serious about grilling or smoking meat. Beyond measuring the internal temperature of whatever you’re cooking and alerting you when your dinner is done via the free app, the Meater monitors the ambient temperature of your grill or smoker and uses both the internal and ambient readings to estimate your total cook time.
That ambient temperature monitoring also makes it possible to fix problems before they get out of hand. If you notice an abrupt spike in ambient heat, there may be a flare-up and you can deal with it before you burn your meal—hopefully, before it ever affects the internal temperature of the meat. Conversely, when you notice a quick drop, you can open dampers to increase airflow before the food gets too cold.
The best part is that the app keeps a ridiculously detailed log ofeverything.So in addition to real-time monitoring, you’re left with a full history of every cook, which can help you achieve better results the next time you grill or smoke. For example, if your last pork shoulder wasn’t as tender as you’d hoped it would be, you can look at the log and see that it was because the ambient temperature fluctuated too much. With that knowledge, you can take steps to keep a more steady temperature the next time, even if it means mopping the meat a little less often. The detailed data can also help you better plan your meals if you happen to be someone who typically takes dinner off the grill about an hour later than you intended. (And yes, you can use it in the oven too.)
The Meater Plus charges inside its little bamboo box and a single AAA battery can charge the probe up to 100 times. The charging box also doubles as a Bluetooth signal repeater for a wireless range of up to 165 feet.
If you're cooking multiple meats—or if you have dinner guests who request different levels of doneness—the Meater Block is a worthwhile upgrade that makes it possible to monitor four cooks at once. And while that last pork chop spends a few extra minutes on the grill, you can school your uncle on the virtues of a medium-rare meat.
