Primo Instant Read Grill Thermometer PG00359

What is an instant read thermometer for?

Checking food quickly, one reading at a time. You open the grill, probe the thickest part of what you are cooking, read the number and decide whether it comes off or goes back on. It is the last check before serving rather than a tool for monitoring a cook from start to finish.

How is it different from the remote wireless thermometer?

Different moments in the cook. Primo Remote Wireless Grill Thermometer is for watching a long cook unfold from indoors, so you know how things are progressing. An instant read is for the decision at the end. Most cooks who do both kinds of grilling end up owning both, and use them for entirely separate purposes.

Can I leave it in the meat during the cook?

No. An instant read is used, read and then taken back out; it is not meant to sit in a closed grill for hours. If you want a probe that stays in the food and reports as the cook runs, a leave-in or remote thermometer is the tool built for that.

Where should I probe the meat?

The thickest part, away from bone and away from any pocket of fat, because bone conducts heat differently and will give you a reading that flatters the cook. On anything large, take two or three readings in different places and go by the lowest, since that is the part still catching up with the rest.

Why not just cook by time?

Because time assumes every piece of meat is the same and every fire behaves identically, and neither is true. Thickness, starting temperature, the weather and how steady your fire has been all move the finish line. A reading tells you where you actually are, which is the only thing that decides when food is ready.