Temperatures Don’t Lock In

The temperature of food is very dynamic, particularly while it is cooking, and the Thermapen® is fast and accurate enough to show minute changes in the temperature while they occur.

The tip of the Thermapen probe can be pushed through food helping you find the coolest part of the center and can show differences in temperature from one spot to another (different parts of a whole Turkey can differ by as much as 20°F [11°C]).

While it can take up to 1 second for Thermapen ONE (up to 2 or 3 seconds for Classic Thermapen) to move from the ambient temperature (room temperature) to the temperature of a food or liquid, once its micro-thermocouple has honed in on the current temperature, it is very quick to sense and display changes.

Of course, these minor changes can be hidden by changing the display resolution of the Thermapen from tenths to whole numbers (see Customizing your ThermapenTM). Whole numbers can be very comforting.

(with tenths)

(without tenths)

Sometimes people have a mentality that cooking thermometers should be like bathroom scales or speed guns and lock in on the temperature once it is detected, but think of the Thermapen more like reality TV, giving you the real-time updates as the action happens.

The takeaway?
If the Thermapen numbers are changing, rest assured that the food’s temperature is changing!