How To Cook Perfect Meat Every Time

I know that the title of this blog post is promising a lot…but trust me it’s totally possible and all you need is one simple little product which costs less than £20!

If you’re anything like me and love a proper Sunday roast, then you’ll have also experienced that moment when you take your meat out of the oven with absolutely no idea whether you’ve over or under cooked it. I’ve always measured my cooking time by the weight of the meat, but even then it’s sometimes a bit hit and miss and it’s a pain to make sure the meat doesn’t go dry or ensure a specific level of cooking. Well my lovely blog readers, not any more! 

I was recently sent a MeasuPro ‘Instant Read Digital Cooking Thermometer with Timer’ (yes I know it’s a mouthful) to try out and OH MY GOD it has actually changed my life. I’m not in the habit of over exaggeration (not really anyway), especially not just because I’m sent something to try out, but honestly I can’t believe I’ve not discovered how easy life is with a cooking thermometer before. 

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The idea is that instead of guessing when your meat is done perfectly, you use the internal temperature to work this out instead. This is probably a familiar concept to lots of people out there, but whilst I had heard of meat thermometers before I always thought you just stuck them in once the meat was cooked to make sure that it was cooked all the way through. 

What I wasn’t expecting was that you actually cook the meat with the thermometer in it (attached to a monitor which stays outside of the oven), and set the temperature that you want your meat to be in the middle for your desired style of cooking (rare, medium rare etc…), pop the oven on and wait until the thermometer tells you the meat is ready. It is as simple as that! There is no timing (although the thermometer does also have a timer on and can be used in that way too), there is no checking if the juices are running clear, there’s no slicing into the meat to double check whether or not you’re going to get food poisoning when you eat it, simply stick the probe in the meat and go about your business!

To say I was slightly sceptical that this would work perfectly every time is an understatement, because at the end of the day few things go to plan when I’m cooking, especially when technology is involved…

My first experiment with my MeasuPro thermometer was this weekend making a BBQ Spiced Roast Beef (using Spice’n’Tice seasoning which was delicious by the way!). I bought a nice silverside of beef (extra lean from Sainsbury’s), and took the plunge. I seasoned my beef, popped it in a baking tray, inserted the probe of the thermometer and set my desired internal temperature to the temp that would give me medium rare – I always find that trying to get medium rare is the most difficult, as it’s so easy to end up over done or eating raw meat!

I kept an eye on the thermometer as the beef cooked, and low and behold the real time internal temperature crept up and up…the first hurdle was a big tick, it was working! The thermometer comes with a battery which is helpful, because there was no scrabbling around looking for a AAA that actually worked. 

After about an hour and 20 minutes, give or take (I wasn’t timing after all!) the thermometer started beeping loudly. Then it was time for the moment of truth, the table was set, my Spiced Cajun Wedges were done, the veg was steamed…time to slice the meat! What can I say, it was perfect! 

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Just to make sure that this wasn’t a fluke, I cooked a gammon joint last night and used the thermometer again. Honestly I can’t fault it, not only could I relax and watch telly whilst I waited for my gammon to reach 68 degrees Celsius, but it’s the most moist and easy to cut bit of gammon I’ve ever eaten. I know for a fact that I’d have left it in too long ‘just to make sure’ it was cooked in the middle, but with a meat thermometer I didn’t have to guess because I know that it was completely cooked and safe to eat.

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I haven’t tried it with chicken yet, or with lamb but I have no doubt that it’ll have the same outcome. For under £20 you can’t really go wrong, and I know it’ll save me some cooking disasters in the future…especially when cooking dishes like Beef Wellington! 

Of course the thermometer isn’t just for meat, it’s for all kinds of cooking, and I know for certain that it’s going to be one of my most used kitchen gadgets going forward! Buy one here, I promise you won’t regret it!

*I was sent the MeasuPro thermometer to try out for free, however all views and opinions expressed in this review are completely honest and unbiased. 

*This post contains Amazon Affiliate links


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