Why MEATER Pro Takes the Guesswork Out of Cooking Meat
MEATER Pro is the smart meat thermometer for anyone serious about cooking meat properly, whether on the barbecue, in the smoker, or in the kitchen. With no wires, smart app guidance, and extended wireless range, it gives you the freedom to cook with far more confidence and far less guesswork.

Chef Valentine Warner shares his thoughts on what he calls The Wand of Hope:
“As a visceral and tactile cook, I’ve spent the majority of my career squeezing or prodding cuts of meat to gauge its doneness. Most of the time I was pretty precise, as the sheer volume I’ve cooked over the years has helped me master the touch.

However it was especially inconvenient at busy events, or on occasion when bad judgement struck. The subsequent rawness declared that meaty prodding was not the most reliable way to gauge readiness. Underdone, I guess was easily rectified but overdone would mean a few days berating myself, as such an avoidable mistake throws me down the perfectionist’s well of doom.

A beloved friend once tossed me a box saying present. It was a meat thermometer, a gadget I’d previously snarled at and made fun of. It’s since revolutionised my cooking to the point that any overcooking to date can only mean I wasn’t concentrating.

I must state clearly here that oven temps and timings have never been a good way to guarantee the best results. One woman’s oven is another man’s incinerator, and cooking temperatures for low & slow and fast & furious will depend on the beast, cut, joint and the density of the meat. Cautious increments of time and a visit with a thermometer are wise tactics; oven and pan cooking times are but a guideline and no more. A digital reading is near enough fact.

To give generalised temperatures is most unwise as artisan steaks all have their specific peccadillos. For example the spider steak requires its noticeable web of collagen be melted properly so that its brilliance be discovered.

What is so often overlooked is that meat almost certainly needs removing from the oven or grill at a lower temperature than the desired target. This is because until the outside of the meat is cooled, it will still be pushing heat towards the core, meaning that the internal temperature will remain on the rise for a while after removal from the heat source. Therefore if you want to achieve the faintest pinkness within a pork leg joint, while 60°C would be the aim, the joint is best removed at 57°C give or take and then well rested.

A deliciously thick Swaledale côte de boeuf eaten at medium-rare (54–55°C) is best removed from the oven at say 52–53°C, remembering it is a thinner cut than a joint of pork and will cool faster as it rests.

Caution also has to be observed that the needle of the probe, especially on thin cuts, not be pushed too far through the meat as the tip will be simply sitting right next to the heat on the other side so giving an inaccurate reading.

You may not think it necessary to take a reading of say a bavette or outside skirt steak given the thinness of the cut, but the fibrous nature can often see you far further away from ready than you thought. Neither cut is at its best eaten rare or even medium-rare, medium being a much better result that one is relieved of chewy rawness.

Note too, that on larger cuts like rib of beef the needle needs to have passed through any thick fat, so that it can read the temperature of the muscle meat.

If cooking meat very slowly then as said before the thermostat on an oven is most unreliable. A chicken put in an oven to cook slowly at 70°C (until all comes up to the same temperature) will need a thermometer so that the last blast to crisp it up and finish the cooking can be done at exactly the right time without ruining the low and slow care taken beforehand.

There is so much to write but it would mean a chart that demands every single cut have its own advisory timings. So I leave you my belief that a digital thermometer is perhaps one of the most important kitchen utensils for good meat to be cooked as perfectly as possible. Surprisingly few cook books, even more recent ones, discuss internal temperatures preferring to concentrate on oven temperatures and timings. There is a lot of information online though, which of course you have to pick and choose through but you will get the hang of it. I will however endeavour to keep up with advisory timings within my recipes.

A while back a perplexed, young helper couldn’t understand why he’d overcooked some meat even after careful thermometer visits and readings. Beloved nit wit, he was using a heat gun (outside temp only). Needless to say I sent him home at the end of the job with The Wand of Hope!”

Swaledale beef, sourced from small farms across the Yorkshire Dales, comes from grass-fed heritage breed cattle given the time to grow slowly to maturity on lush green pasture. To achieve outstanding flavour, we dry age the beef on the bone for over 28 days in our Himalayan salt chamber, allowing it to tenderise naturally and the flavour to concentrate.

Our detailed guide on How to Smoke a Brisket, from prep to perfect bark, is now available on the Journal.