ok, really stupid but driving me crazy.

vash · vash's Garage

does anyone make an oven thermometer worth a damn? i thought i got a good one, but it just fell apart!!!!

i want one that stays together, stays out of the way, and of course accurate. nothing more painful/stressfull than chasing a hot therm thru the damn oven grates....arrghhhh! and those hanging ones are always in the way....i should just pony up for the good oven....

btw, my future range will be no doubt an AGA!

edit, just had a thought. i may see what our soil lab guys use in their ovens. hmmmm?

Jeff Higgins · 10-24-2005, 05:17 PM

The range is probably too high, but I use an exhaust thermometer from a diesel truck for "cooking" lead for cast bullets. That would look pretty unique sticking out of the turkey on Thanksgiving...

vash · vash's Garage

jeff, that is classic!

my oven mitts are welding gloves....

cantdrv55 · 10-24-2005, 06:46 PM

Cliff, you're starting to worry me. You post more cooking questions than the two or three chicks we have in OT. It's time to share the cooking duties with the little lady. Next you'll be asking if your coveralls make you look fat.

Tim Hancock · 10-25-2005, 05:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cantdrv55
Cliff, you're starting to worry me. You post more cooking questions than the two or three chicks we have in OT. It's time to share the cooking duties with the little lady. Next you'll be asking if your coveralls make you look fat.

No offense Cliff, but that is some funny *****!!!

vash · vash's Garage

it is funny. but for the record, my cooking has gotten me more poontang than...my face.

Tim Hancock · 10-25-2005, 10:32 AM

Just don't let a future wife know that you know how to cook (or clean for that matter). If you set precedence while dating, you will end up doing it forever if you get married. This will take away from your hobby time, you have been warned!

Man, if my wife reads this I am toast!

Superman · 10-25-2005, 10:42 AM

I played with a friend's TIG welder Sunday night. That was fun. No rod.

TerryBPP · 10-25-2005, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by vash
it is funny. but for the record, my cooking has gotten me more poontang than...my face.

I bet she was a fatty.

jyl · jyl's Garage

Are you doing meats or real baking?

For meat, I find the simple dial-type meat thermometers last long enough. Calibrate them in boiling water, they're often wrong by as much as 20-30F, sometimes you can twist the dial to recalibrate. A good buddy uses a fancy electronic probe with a remote digital display and an alarm, it's nice too.

For real baking - no idea. I draw the line at baking cakes and pastries, and you should too. Be a man, man! Start standing up for yourself now, it won't get any easier later.

P.S. I've never had luck with the oven thermometers that sit uneasily on the rack. They always fall over backwards.

vash · vash's Garage

eff baking pastries. that was my first job, and i was decent at it.

honestly, i hate wasting food. wasting in terms of over/undercooking and generally making stuff taste like crap. so i think two things need thermometers, the fridge and oven.

with meats, i also use a probe thermometer.

my history: single, own home, very independent, borderline OCD, control freak. even married, i will cook.

JeffO · 10-25-2005, 11:51 AM

This is the best one. Fully programmable and a timer to boot.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004XSC5/qid=1130269807/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-8482662-2844856?v=glance&s=kitchen&n=507846

M.D. Holloway · 10-25-2005, 12:01 PM

Cliff,
Unless your cooking bird, why would you need a probe thermo?

vash · vash's Garage

mike, three words: standing rib roast!

i actually use it for everything, including testing vent temps on my 911 AC, and checking my tstat. i did just check my truck thermostat with it too. just dont tell the folks eating my cooking. hope that gets me less "domestic" in the minds of the knuckle draggers here

M.D. Holloway · 10-25-2005, 12:10 PM

hmmm...I didn't think of the standing rib roast. Good point. I bet it would be handy for rack of lamb or crown rib roasts as well. I wish my wife was a decent cook!

I use a Craftsman IR Temp gun when I check temps of pumps and bearings. I have used it to see how accurate my oven at home is. We have a probe thermo from Sharper Image. Seems to work pretty good when we remember to use it - but thats for turkey.

jyl · jyl's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by vash
mike, three words: standing rib roast!

i actually use it for everything, including testing vent temps on my 911 AC, and checking my tstat. i did just check my truck thermostat with it too. just dont tell the folks eating my cooking. hope that gets me less "domestic" in the minds of the knuckle draggers here

But were you wearing your frilly pink apron?

No, seriously, what would have impressed the knuckle draggers is if you'd written

Quote:

mike, three words: standing rib roast!

i actually [make my GF] use it for everything, including testing vent temps on my 911 AC, and checking my tstat. [She] did just check my truck thermostat with it too. just dont tell the folks eating [her] cooking.

M.D. Holloway · 10-25-2005, 01:33 PM

What gets me is the exactness of the directions. Things like the temp and time - whose to say that 364F would not cook something better than 375F? And why is it either 45 min, 20 minutes, 1 hour...why not 22 miutes, 47 minutes, 1 hour and 11 seconds?

I refuces to believe that someone in the kitchen spent time deucing a designed experiment using an onthogonal array and Tauguchy methodology ot arrive at the precise time and temp (and concentration of additives) that would produce that absolute best recipe?

There4, the concept is flawed, temp & time are relative and any more attention paid to it is a fools errand...

(Order out)

Rondinone · 10-25-2005, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
What gets me is the exactness of the directions. Things like the temp and time - whose to say that 364F would not cook something better than 375F? And why is it either 45 min, 20 minutes, 1 hour...why not 22 miutes, 47 minutes, 1 hour and 11 seconds?

I refuces to believe that someone in the kitchen spent time deucing a designed experiment using an onthogonal array and Tauguchy methodology ot arrive at the precise time and temp (and concentration of additives) that would produce that absolute best recipe?

There4, the concept is flawed, temp & time are relative and any more attention paid to it is a fools errand...

(Order out)

then you've never cooked. Temp too high=burn outside before inside is done. Temp too low=dried out or too tough. Ever try to cook baby back ribs at 400? Then again most ovens cycle +/- 50F. Except mine of course.

Buy a Polder remote digital thermometer, ~$25. I have one that measures both oven and meat temperature at same time. that's really handy with the smoker since the smoker tends to drift. Whatever you buy get one with a remote probe, if nothing else you can dangle it over a rack and get an accurate measurement of oven without opening the door.