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

[Julie Masters]

submitted withont finishing... sticky disaster when bottling marmalade and correct temperature hadn't been reached.  having to pour jars and jars of runny marmalade back into saucepan before re-boiling and then pouring back into jars once they had been washed, dried, sterilised etc etc.  sooooo much extra work   doh!

[Julie Masters]

heston used one lots on his recent TV prog.  Also useful when using the BBQ

[PapaGeez]

Had a time snow when making honey comb toffee that it hasn't quite got to the right temperature - so the last 2 attempts - (when making batches to give for Xmas presents) has resulted in a molten mass that gradually turns stickier and stickier - although eldest teenager still liked to pick off pieces.

 

So to save any more of these disasters one is needed!  I'd also really like to try the Heston method of cooking a chicken which is done at rather a low temperature and then a balst at the end - need to be sure no-one gets food poisoning from that!!  His steak method of flipping over every 15-20 seconds is pretty awesome!!!

[Erin Pickersgill]

Can we just say...mixing up marshmallow that has NOT been brought to the correct temperature is the stickiest, most boring and flop of a candy making afternoon!! If I had only known...

[Starvin' Marvin]

Not using a thermometer makes as much sense as cooking with your eyes closed wearing a nose clip. Using one means you can judge doneness like a pro wihtout having spent years in a pro kitchen.

My stepfather bought the most wonderful whole fillet of angus beef for christmas dinner two years ago and if there had been a thermometer pen in the house a £100 peice of meat would not have been overcooked. Nobody said anything (it was christmas after all) but everybody knew it was ruined! If you use a thermometer when you cook a steak it will almost guarantee success (58°C is the magic temp!).

I use one for almost everything I cook... italian meringues, bread, caramel, creme anglais, roasts.  

Most importantly it is the ONE ESSENTIAL item of kit you should have when barbequeing meat. Firstly to reassure your guests that you are not going serve anything that will poison them and secondly to ensure sausages and burgers remain juicy and succulent rather than dry and overcooked.

It also allows you to deep fry without fearing you will burn your house down! 

[Matt Friend]

Kitchen distasters? Jeez, the list is endless.... nearly raw chicken has been served on many an occasion (it's OK though, I'm still here), caramel has been rendered jaw-breakingley inedible, cake batter has grotesquely split, it's a wonder people still like my cooking!

Of course it doesn't help that I have the most antique gas-oven, which I swear makes the temperature up as goes along. So yes I need a thermometer basically, otherwise my friends and family are at risk from my temperamental cooking! :)

[Lesley Robertson]

Well, I realised after a disaster at one of my supper clubs that 'if only I had a digital thermometer' ..... it was one of those evenings where I had a choice of desserts, I had prepared and the meringue for the baked alaska, wrapped it around the ice cream and brownie base, started taking the other desserts out to the guests, then happily opened the oven to take out my master piece (individual baked alaska), but then I seen the mess that was in my oven, melted ice cream pouring through the whole in the meringue and it all lying on the baking tray rather than the wonderful mound of snow that it should have been ....  apparently it didnt take away from the taste, so my husband told me, (but then he would say that)  but it was a huge disaster in my 'perfect' world of cooking and supper clubs.  

[Lynne Clark]

Ah my worst kitchen disaster was also at Christmas. I was making caramel for  caramel oranges for a retro pudding to contrast with the Christmas pudding.  Caramel was coming along nicely. Was it looking a little dark? Would it be bitter?  My normal action when cooking something and want to know if it needs more seasoning is to dip my index finger in and taste it...

So that is what I did. I remember watching with fascination as my index finger inexorably moved from the handle of the pan to the caramel. It was in slow motion. My mind yelled at my finger "NOOOO!". My finger ignored it, and carried on to dip into the molten sugary lava. 

10 mins under the tap, and carefully anointed with lavender oil, I carried on with Christmas dinner. Goodness knows what degree the burn was, I wasn't going to spend Christmas day in casualty to find out.  I had a blister the size and texture of a frozen pea for about a week, and when it finally shed its skin, I'd lost my fingerprint for about 3 months till it all grew back.

What is it about Christmas that makes for kitchen disaster?

[Localfoody]

Toffee, fudge, caramels and honey comb, all loved by my friends and family until a too tough toffee took my cousins tooth! Now, had I had a thermometer, I may have got the temperature correct for a contented chewy treat, instead of a ruccus of a row that made my cousin swear never to touch my toffees again!  He ate too many anyway.

Local foody

[Kali]

A kitchen disaster that could've been avoided for me was cooking Christmas dinner for the first time, and was also my first private chef job!The client was convinced the turkey she had would take 2hours to cook, stupidly I listened to her. Of course, it wasn't! So I had to improvise taking the legs off etc so they could eat on time, everything worked out okay, I pulled it off, but it was stressful!.. And would never make such a silly mistake now, but a kitchen thermometer would've helped ;)