I want to tell you about a device that solved a problem I didn't know I had for the past 10 years. Every year on Christmas Day, my family gets together and eats some of the best premium roast beef I have ever wrapped my lips around. It's so very good, and by the way, if you live in Chicago or the suburbs, check out the premium roast from Reagan's Meats in Glenview, and you'll thank me later.
Year after year, we've cooked this roast and it seems like the directions never really got it right. It would say, "Cook for 100 minutes" and we would and inevitably, we'd stick in the meat thermometer and find out the meat was only at 120 degrees. That would kill us if we ate it, so we'd stick it back in for 20 minutes, check the temp. Rinse. Repeat.
Well over the summer, I got a new device called the Meater, and I unboxed it for another outlet, and then I used it a couple of times we barbequed. Of course, the summer of 2020, we didn't do much barbecuing because of you-know-why. Plus, I never felt I was using this device for the right occasion. So this Christmas, it occurred to me, let's try the Meater in the roast. But before I finish the story, I should tell you about the device.
The Meater is a Bluetooth connected meat thermometer that comes in a base that you charge the device with. When you're ready to cook, you stick the thermometer into the meat and leave it there, even in the oven. You set up the app and it gives you all the data you need - the temperature of the meat, the ambient temperature in your cooking environment, and the estimated time remaining until your cook is done. It does this with a Bluetooth connection that it makes first to the base you store the Meater in. The base repeats the connection to your phone This is done completely wirelessly, and I should point out, it's being done while the probe is inside a slab of meat, inside a metal oven at up to 575 degrees. You keep the base close to the oven for it to connect, then the base repeats the signal to your phone up to 165 feet away.
The first question you might be asking is, "how do the electronics survive that intense heat?" Well, the bottom part of the probe that goes into the meat actually uses the meat itself as a protective sheath. After all, the meat will never get more than 165, or 170 degrees Fahrenheit. It's quite smart. The top of the device has a ceramic housing which can withstand temperatures up to 575 degrees.
So back to the story, this year, we put the Meater inside the roast, and put the roast in the oven, and set up the cook. Then we let Meater do its job. Long story short, we pulled out the meat exactly once, and it was the perfect temperature.
Now before you scoff, was this a huge problem we had over the years? No. But it was an annoying one, and on a holiday when you have a bunch of people over, any delay to the food can be a downer. This year, Meater made that absolutely no problem whatsoever.
The Meater costs 99 dollars, which isn't bad. Competing products all cost around that much, but most competing products have wires that connect to a base - this one does not, so it's very much more convenient and for my money, that's cool. Having experienced this over the holiday and found out how much easier it is to cook with it, yeah, I'll spend a hundo on this thing.
The main downside that I encountered is one that you'll probably only have to experience once. Onboarding on the app is a little annoying. You have to go through this step-by-step process to connect to the base, then connect to the phone, and get a little tutorial, yadda yadda. Over the summer during review season, I went through this like 4 or 5 times and there was no way to skip it, so it got a little annoying. If you only use one phone, you won't find this nearly as annoying.
So if you fancy yourself a chef, or if you just want to roast the perfect premium roast, I definitely recommend this thing. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of cooking which for me is incredibly valuable. There's a link for it below and if you click that link and buy one, I'll get a little cut and it won't cost you anything extra. Enjoy the beef or chicken or whatever culinary delight awaits you!