The Kitchen Tool You Didn’t Know You Needed

The Kitchen Tool You Didn’t Know You Needed - Food & Nutrition Magazine - Stone Soup
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Product reviewed: Melissa Cookston Digital Thermometer

Making sure food is cooked to the proper internal temperature can be one of the most challenging (and oftentimes, frustrating) experiences of preparing a meal. If your kitchen gadget drawer is anything like mine, somewhere deep inside is a thermometer that flips from 105°F to 143°F without movement and is so untrustworthy, you’ve nicknamed it Pinocchio because you know it’s always lying.

Enter the Melissa Cookston Digital Thermometer. This tool is great for the basic home chef, providing a quick and easy-to-read temperature on a digital screen and taking the guesswork out of protein preparation altogether. The Kitchen Tool You Didn’t Know You Needed - It also has a backlight feature for dark settings, like early morning or late-night cooking. In addition to Fahrenheit, it offers Celsius temperatures in case you’re using an international recipe or are cooking outside of the United States.

This probably sounds crazy, but one of my favorite features of this tool is its box. Printed on the box is the recommended internal cooking temperature for all proteins. I’m sure I learned this information during a nutrition class at some point in my career, but I certainly didn’t retain it. Having it printed on the package is an easy reference during cooking.

The tool itself is straightforward and easy to use. No need to add batteries – it comes ready to go right out of the package. To use the thermometer, turn on the power and insert the probe into food. You will see a temperature in seconds. The probe swivels in and out like a pocket knife for easy storage after use. The tool is water-resistant, which is important when cooking different dishes. I first used the thermometer when grilling steak. Given that I do not prepare steak often, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was. Because the probe can swivel, I didn’t have to move the steak off the grill to get a temperature reading. It was getting dark outside while I was grilling, and the backlight feature offered clear, visible temps in the low-light setting. Since then, I have used the tool when baking chicken, sautéing a stir-fry, cooking a turkey and more. Every time, it worked like a charm.

I certainly would recommend this product to friends and family looking for a no-brainer digital thermometer to deliver safe food temperatures without hassle. It’s water-resistant, has a handy backlight feature for various culinary adventures and, most importantly, is reliable and quick and easy to use.

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Marissa Thiry, RDN
Marissa Thiry is a registered dietitian at Taco Bell Corp. in Irvine, Calif. She is part of the Global Nutrition and Sustainability Team that, among other responsibilities, leads better-for-you menu innovation, nutrition communications, and sustainability initiatives for the organization.