WalMart Impulse Buy...

[nascarchuck]

Well, I made an impulse buy yesterday at WalMart. I bought a little Acurite digital thermometer for $13. I figure that it's better than nothing, for now anyway. I still plan on buying a Maverick ET-73 from Larry when I get the extra $.

I dont think it's too bad of a deal for $13, but what do I know? You can set the actual temp and it has an alarm when the temp is reached.

I noticed that it says not to lay the probe or the wire on a hot grill. I was wanting to try it out tonight on some steaks. Will I be able to insert the probe into the steaks and moniter the temp or do I have to poke the probe in after awhile and just check it? If I can indeed moniter it, how would I keep the wire off of the grill?

Another question. I am showing that a medium rare steak should have an internal temp of 145* and a medium at 160*. Should I pull these off at 140* and 155* to reach the "perfect temp"?

[desi]

chuck you can wrap the part of the wire that's gonna be inside your grill with some hd foil, that will help protect it. as far as the steaks go, i would pull em at 140 and 150, but that's just me.

[Gator]

Congrats Chuck, what kind of probe is it? Does it have a wire lead or is it attached all in one unit?

I think on the temp - you are going to have to experiment a little, pulling it early is what I do - the temp is gonna rise by at least 5 degrees maybe more if you are cooking on high heat.

[nascarchuck]

Desi - Thanks for the foil tip. I will give that a try.

Gator - I will pull em off a little early and go from there. My wife is pickey about the way her steak is cooked. I am not near a pickey. I prefer mine med well to med, but will eat it just about any way as long as its not mooing!

Oh, it has the wire lead that plugs into the unit. I tried to find it on the net, but had no luck, so I took a pic.

[Puff]

Chuck you should be able to use that probe on any surface. I don't understand why the directions told you not to

[TX Sandman]

They might mean "Don't run the wire over the coals." Most wires can't take the direct heat.

I bought a Garden Treasures / Accurite wired therm from Lowes the other day. Checked it out for accuracy yesterday and it was dead on. Probe is rated for 700*, so I think I'm covered.

I still would like a Maverick, though.

[nascarchuck]

My son opened the package when I wasn't looking and ran in to show Momma... She wasn't aware of the inpulse buy just yet!

Anyway, if there was any instructions/specs, etc, I never saw them.

How are you checking for accuracy?

[DATsBBQ]

I use a manual portable hand held instant read (hold off till I can get Einstein fitted with a Guru).

Those wired gadgets do have advantages. Lowes sent me a $10 gift card, might have to cash it in.

[TX Sandman]

I bought the wired one more for fun than anything. All I used yesterday was a digital Taylor one.

Chuck, what I do is get a pot of water boiling on the stove. One that's boiling, I take the probe and insert it into the water, where it should read 212* or thereabouts. My wired one was dead accurate, the taylor was off by about 2*, and another manual one read 220*. I'm not gonna stress about them, but now I know how much I'm off.

[OSD]

Looks good. another tip for those type of probes is to put a small piece of shrink wrap tape right where the probe and the wire join together. keeps out moisture when cooking and cleaning. The death warrant for a probe is moisture. Laying the probe on the grate can give false readings. If you want to monitor smoker temp, put a hole in a chunk of wood or a potato and poke the probe through. I forget who told me this-but it does work.

[desi]

in addition to the boiling water check, i like to check for 32 deg. in a glass of ice water too, just to check both ends of the spectrum. the shrink wrap is a great idea too (i forget who mentioned it) and i recently did that to mine.