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One essential tool that every serious outdoor cook should invest in is a meat thermometer. BBQ meat thermometers are simple, inexpensive and easy to use. They will ensure that your joints of meat have reached the correct temperature before you serve guests. This is particularly important to check when barbequing, since temperatures within the cooker are not always as easy to gauge as with a normal oven. Some bbq's don't have thermometers built in, and a hand-held thermometer is a real necessity in this instance.
We stock a wide range of thermometers, from very simple dial and probe models, to top of the range wireless LED gauges. These are particularly accurate, and easy to use. Digital thermometers are recommended for those who want 100% accuracy, but dial and probe machines will give a good idea of when your meat has reached temperature too. Our most popular thermometer is the Weber Original Instant Read Thermometer, which gives a reading in seconds. It has a large display, and a fine probe which makes it easy to insert into meat joints. Small, smart and neat, this thermometer is the perfect gadget for the serious bbq enthusiast.
Whichever thermometer you choose, you will certainly feel more confident about the safety of the food you serve. People particularly like to use a thermometer when cooking chicken, for added peace of mind.
Ensuring that meat is properly cooked is a common worry with barbecues, and a lack of confidence in cooking temperature is one of the reasons that people so often end up burning the outside of food; to ensure that the inside has been cooked properly.
A lot of barbecues include a hood thermometer, which displays the internal temperature of the cooking area, but if you really want to ensure that you have cooked meat properly so that it won't have to be put back on the grill and won't cause people to get ill, a probe thermometer is a good option because it lets you check the internal temperature of the meat itself. Very few barbecues include this type of thermometer, but they are available, and you will find that most major BBQ manufacturers sell them.
You can buy digital or analogue models, thermometers with LED screens, and some of the more advanced models include alarms and other handy features but, ultimately, you need a thermometer that will let you check the internal temperature and ensure that everything is cooked properly without the need to overcook the outside of the food.
At BBQ World we especially love that a relatively simple accessory can be used to greatly improve your cooking results. You don't have to spend a fortune on an advanced model but you will still enjoy a great tasting meal when you use one. Visit us at Dawson's Department Store, where you can see our entire range of barbecues, gardenware, and homeware. Call us and ask any questions about the items we sell, or shop on our website and enjoy free UK delivery on all orders over �50.
Healthy Cooked Food
The single biggest reason to use a BBQ thermometer is to ensure that you serve food that is fully cooked. It is difficult to accurately predict the temperature inside the grill, and barbecue heat transfers differently when compared to cooking in an oven or under the grill. Unfortunately, this means that a lot of people end up under cooking meat when they do use the BBQ, and undercooked meat can have serious health consequences. Using a probe thermometer, you can check the temperature in the thickest part of the meat to check that you won't make guests ill.
Simplicity
Probe thermometers are especially easy to use. Whether it is a dial thermometer or a digital model, all you need to do is insert the probe into the thickest section of the meat and wait until the display settles at a temperature to get an accurate reading. You can check the required temperature for different cuts of meat, making sure that all bacteria have been killed and that the meat will taste great once finished.
Better Tasting Food
Without a thermometer, the typical approach to ensuring that meat is cooked thoroughly is to cook it for longer than required. This helps ensure that the food reaches a higher temperature and that any potentially illness causing bacteria has been killed. While this might prove effective at removing bacteria, it also tends to leave you with charred or burned food; hardly an ideal cooking method. Using a probe thermometer, you can check that you are cooking at the optimum temperature. You won't need to cook at too high a temperature, which will enable you to prepare succulent and juicy meat every time you get the barbecue out.
Retain Juices
Cooking meat without a thermometer means that you will have to cut into the meat every time you want to check the temperature. At best, this means that you will have to cut into the meat at least once, allowing the juices to seep out, and reducing the flavour opportunities for your dishes. While you need to insert a probe thermometer into the meat itself, the juice escape will be minimal, and it is these juices that are better retained using this cooking method that give the meat its juicy taste and help to ensure that the meat remains succulent after cooking.
Save Money
Believe it or not, having a thermometer can actually save you money on your grilling. If you cook at too high a temperature, or too low a temperature, you are more likely to ruin a cut of meat than you are to prepare a dish that everybody will want to eat. Ultimately, this means that you will have to prepare other dishes for people to eat if you want to make sure that they have been fully fed.
Using a thermometer, you can mitigate this problem, and create great tasting and healthy food every time you start up the grill. You won't have to buy replacement steaks or chicken, so if you regularly find that you ruin food in this way, consider a meat thermometer to be a great way of enjoying savings too.
Instant Thermometers
There are basically two types of BBQ thermometer - those that provide an instant reading, and those that are designed to be left in the meat while you cook. An instant thermometer will give you a reading of the temperature as soon as you plunge the probe in. With a constant thermometer, you can enjoy advanced features, such as the ability to set alarms to go off when the meat reaches the desired temperature, further offering you a method of preventing the over cooking of your barbecue meat.
Weber iGrill Thermometer
The Weber iGrill is one of our favourite thermometers. Compatible with Genesis II Genesis II LX barbecues, the Weber iGrill monitors the temperature of your food from start to finish. You leave the thermometer in as you cook, and it will tell you when to remove the food because it has reached the desired temperature. The iGrill comes with an Android or iOS app that you can install on your phone or tablet, so you don't even have to monitor the cooking from the garden.
You can head inside to greet guests and receive an alert on your phone when the meat is finished cooking and ready to serve. It has two probes, so you can check the top and bottom temperature, and the iGrill from Weber also has the capacity to add a further two probes for even more accurate temperature readings. You can even incorporate the iGrill and its app with your barbecue, so that you can control the Genesis models using your mobile phone and remove the heat as soon as you reach the required temperature.
Meat thermometers are a relatively simple idea, although there are advanced models like the Weber iGrill that enable you to control the cooking of your food from your mobile phone. However, even the simplest model enables you to greatly enhance the quality of your cooking. You won't be left with shrivelled up, dried and burned pieces of meat anymore.
Buy BBQ Thermometers From BBQ World
BBQ thermometers are just one of the types of barbecue accessory that are available, but we believe that they are one of the most beneficial. Cook healthily and prepare food that will taste like it has been cooked professionally. Monitor temperatures, remove meat from the heat once it reaches the desired temperature, and avoid the temptation of burning the meat just to ensure that you won't make anybody ill with poorly prepared meat dishes. While a lid thermometer does have its uses, primarily to ensure that the cooking area reaches the required temperature before you start preparing food, it does not prove an accurate reading of the temperature of the food itself.
BBQ World has a range of BBQ thermometers, many of which are designed for use on specific makes and models of barbecue, as well as those that can be used with any model. Browse the site, find the thermometer for you, and remember that you qualify for free delivery on any order over �50.
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