Product Review - Thermapen

I was kindly sent a pink Thermapen to review, so used the excuse to have a steak night this weekend. I got our steak's from our local butcher and opted for three rib eye and three sirloin. My preferred cut has always been fillet, but I thought it would be nice to see how I got on with sirloin.

I was cooking steaks to be medium rare, medium and well done. Using the thermapen made cooking them very easy, but I found it hard not to be clock watching. I got 5 out of 6 right, the first one I did, the well done one, was more medium. I should have popped the skewer from the thermapen in the middle of the steak but checked at the side and took it out of the pan too soon. The other 5 were great though.

I can see me getting a lot of use from my thermapen, particularly for baking, and definitely on that pesky turkey at Christmas.

I was sent a press release showing how the Thermapen can be used to help with BBQing.





Perfect Steaks Every Time - Even in the Dark
There's now an easy way to cook steak perfectly - even when it's dark!
According to ETI Ltd, the makers of the Thermapen® food thermometer, nearly a third of barbecuers¹ say they want to see a steak sizzling on the grill.
Over one fifth² of us say that we like our steaks done medium-rare; but with all the eye-watering smoke and glowing coals how can you possibly know when your steak is cooked precisely as you like it?
The simple answer is to use the nifty, British designed SuperFast Thermapen. Once you've tried this clever digital food thermometer for barbecuing you'll find you won't want to cook meat without it.
The secret is the Thermapen's fine, stainless steel, foldaway probe that allows you to quickly and simply check how things are cooking without damaging the look of your food.
For a medium-rare steak the near-instant, digital display should show a temperature reading of 65˚C, whilst a steak would be well-done at 80˚C.
The speed, accuracy and user-friendly design of the SuperFast Thermapen means that it's already a kitchen essential for many well-known chefs.
Available in 10 colours, the easy-to-use, water-resistant SuperFast Thermapen looks great and is lightweight. For the serious barbecuer, a useful belt holster makes the ideal companion so your Thermapen will always be to hand.
New this summer is the clever Backlit Thermapen, which has all the features of the SuperFast Thermapen, with the added benefit of an intelligent low-light sensor that will automatically illuminate the digital display when ambient light is low. Available in red, white or blue it's perfect for evening barbecues!
Each Thermapen comes with a calibration certificate and a two year guarantee.
The SuperFast Thermapen retails at £57.60, the Backlit Thermapen is £67.20 and the protective belt holster is just £6. All are available from www.thermapen.co.uk

Perfect Beef Steak Temperature Guide: Check the steak regularly at different points, moving it if "hot-spots" are obviously causing the steak to cook unevenly. As a guide a Thermapen probe should read the following: Medium Rare - 65ºC Well Done - 80ºC Rare - 60ºC Medium Well Done - 75ºC Medium - 70ºC (NB It is recommended that, to ensure all potentially harmful bacteria are killed, all meat is cooked to a temperature of 75ºC or above)