Get a Real Thermometer

A thermometer makes sure your meat is:

1. Cooked enough to have the right texture
2. Cooked enough to be safe to eat
3. Not over cooked to wreck the food

This is really important for our slow growth chicken that is less forgiving than the six-week old factory style chickens found at most farmer's markets and every grocery store.

A good thermometer should be:

1. Really fast
2. Accurate (able to read differences in a single cut of meat)
3. Waterproof

We previously recommended the Thermapen, a great thermometer that was one of the few that met all of the above criteria. But it was also $120!

We loved ours and it was totally worth it.

But when it broke after a decade of use, I looked around for an updated option.

Recommendation

Here is the one I currently recommend, the Lavatools Javelin PRO. It costs a bit more than the cheapo options, but has some really nice features:

• nearly as fast and accurate as the $120 Thermapen
• waterproof
• backlit
• handy magnet

Avoid

Really -- if you have a $10 thermometer, throw it out and get a better one. Being off by just two degrees on your pork chops or 5 degrees on your chicken thigh can make all the difference between a fantastic meal and 'meh'. This is especially important with heritage breeds.