Competition: win a digital thermometer from ETI

[msmarmitelover]

If there's one piece of kitchen equipment that will transform your cooking, it's a digital thermometer. I'm not kidding!

You can finally temper chocolate, or make sure your fish and meat are done properly when you take them out of the oven.

In terms of food hygiene, it's a must for every serious cook.

ETI have given two SuperFast Thermapen Thermometers (in the colour of your choice)

to members of Find a Supper Club to be won in a competition. 

All you have to do is comment below on your kitchen disasters, preferably ones that would have been avoided if only you'd had a digital thermometer....

A New Superhero for Your Kitchen

A favourite kitchen gadget of many celebrity chefs and professional cooks, the SuperFast Thermapen is now available to home chefs and BBQ fans.

The food thermometer has an easy to read digital display that gives an accurate temperature reading in under three seconds.

Available in a range of 13 stunning colours it is a must-have for all home kitchens; whether you are a serious technical baker or just want to enjoy meat that is both succulent and cooked safely.

Perfect for recipes that involve sugar, such as jam, or chocolate it’s easy to read display gives a quick and accurate food temperature in less than three seconds. So no more time spent watching your food spoil as you wait for a temperature reading.

Its water resistant casing contains ‘Biomaster’ to reduce bacterial growth and is practical and washable.

Winner of the BBC’s Great British Bake-Off and Celebrity Chef Edd Kimber is a big fan, “The SuperFast Thermapen is a really handy gadget for all chefs whether they use it for everyday baking, to make sure that cakes and sponges are done without being dried out, or for something a little more technically demanding.

“I totally rely on my Thermapen because it’s absolutely crucial that I get an accurate and speedy temperature reading for many of the recipes that I work with.  

“My speciality is Macarons, which are beautiful but notoriously tricky treats to make; relying on cooked sugar syrup where the temperature must be exact. The Thermapen is perfect for baking these deliciously delicate delights.”

Convenient with a foldaway probe, stylish and easy to use – you’ll wonder how you ever cooked without it.

The SuperFast Thermapen costs £57.60 and is available from www.thermapen.co.uk

[msmarmitelover]

So many great answers but the winners are: John Barrett with his bad caramel and Starvin' Marvin with his repeated disasters! ETI will be in touch with you soon.

Thank you everybody. 

[Starvin' Marvin]

I've burnt chococlate in the mcirowave by trying to use 1-3 minute cooking intervals (not nice) ... short bursts only with stirring in between!

[Midnight Steak-Out]

Luckily for us here at Midnight Steakout, we work with beef, that, if very good (at it always should be), can be eaten practically straight off the poor cow's back. We rarely touch chicken, the stuff is fowl. Hope you are well, Lady Marmite. xx

[SHONA MACIVER]

Thank you for the tip on melting chocolate; I'll give it a try when I'm making Easter chocolate crunchies! 

[msmarmitelover]

Midnight Steak-out: I've heard that 80% of all food poisoning comes from chicken. You have to be so careful...

Shona: I've been known to burn chocolate too. A cookery teacher told me recently that it's best to melt chocolate in short 30 second bursts in the microwave rather than with a bain marie. But don't be tempted to think, oh I'll give it a minute...you must do it in 30sec segments.

Brigid: absolutely...the wrinkle test is so much easier with a thermometer.

Jane: I tried for years as a kid to do fudge, every time a failure until I got a sugar thermometer.

Starvin: you are very knowledgeable. Thanks for the tips.

As I said I'll announce the winners on Wednesday...thanks everybody. (I'll get someone neutral to decide)

[Midnight Steak-Out]

There have been explosions, floods and fires; but, perhaps the most tragic and biblical storm in the kitchen occurs when there is an uncooked, sick chicken. No one will ever forget that one time, chained high and low to your new porcelain BFF. Seafood and fowl, delicious when they are good, so painfully, death-flauntingly bad when they are horrid. Thermapen thermometers at the ready now! 

[SHONA MACIVER]

It's taken me a good 10 years to actually cook to an OK standard.  I still have numerous disasters and very unusual creations.  I've even burnt chocolate!  I'm still a little uneasy on knowing when meat is cooked or still needs a little longer in the oven.  Then there is baking.  It looks so easy! Yet, I still can't master when the cake should be ready.  I tend to burn or under cook the cake.  In relation to the latter, I think it's cooked, so take it out and let it cool ready to be iced.  Then find it's not cooked and it ends up in the bin, as I'm even scared that I'll poison the local bird population with my baking if I donate it to them!  So I've given up on the idea of ever being able to bake....I cheat and have to buy my cakes for friends and family birthday parties. 

[Brigid McKevith]

This would definitely help with my jam and chutney making! Sometimes difficult to know if the right stage has been met. Without a thermometer, I have made some sticky mistakes - putting into jars only to have to pour back and reboil!!!

[Jane Henderson]

Cooking disasters are many and varied, but my first attempt at clotted cream fudge could well have been averted with the help of one of these thermometers!  I obviously didn't get the temperature quite high enough, so despite beating it religiously when cooling and then leaving it to "set" overnight, the resulting fudge had a more plasticine consistency, I even wondered if I could market it as such, modelling clay that you can eat - a product I'm sure children and adults could have fun with :)  "Unfortunately" as the fudge wasn't a success I had to eat it all myself... maybe I don't need that thermometer after all!

[Starvin' Marvin]

Starvin' Marvin: I always make sure the centre of fish is 70°C when I take it out the oven...would you agree?

Mrs M...for me 70°C would be  too high for a whole fish or fillet ...60°C will be safe if you are going to serve straight away and your fish will be much more juicy and tender (the same applies for any meat fillets).  The surface temperature will be higher in any case. If you want to be absolutely certain then give your fish a QUICK (and I mean seconds) sear in a smoking hot pan to kill any surface bacteria before putting in the oven .

Most of the risk with cooked food occurs not with the final cooking temperature but the temperatures that most people hold food at whilst waiting to serve, crappy hygiene or cooking product this is already spoiled... but I imagine the fish you source would be pretty tip top ;) 

Im my opinion there is more risk getting food poisoning from uncooked products such as salads.

I have served "mi-cuit"salmon cooked to 42°C using a water bath ...oh god the texture is divine however this should be treated in the same way as any unpasteurised product such a a soft boiled egg...so not for pregnant ladies.

70°C is required though for ground products such as fish cakes, burgers, sausages where is is more risk of bacteria being introduced by the mixing/mincing/prepration of the raw product.