A meat thermometer is such a piece of cooking equipment that exists more or less in every household to measure the inner temperature of cooked meat.
However, except for checking the temperature of meats, you might need to measure the temperature of oil while cooking or the temperature of homemade candy too.
Hence, a meat thermometer is available in almost every home, so you can think of whether you can use a meat thermometer for candy or oil not. Therefore, let us find out the right answers.
Can I Use A Meat Thermometer For Candy?
A meat thermometer cannot be used for candies because meat thermometers are not designed to count the high temperature that is needed for making candies. Besides, any meat thermometer has a shorter probe end which can put anyone at a risky stage where boiling sugar splash can burn the skin.
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Can I Use A Digital Meat Thermometer For Candy?
A digital instant-read meat thermometer can be used for the candy-making process. It’s because these thermometers can relatively reach and measure high heat which is necessary for making candies.
Also, a digital meat thermometer is manufactured to be utilized in different cooking temperatures. Therefore, it’s another factor that makes these digital meat thermometers suitable to use while making candy.
Are Candy And Meat Thermometers The Same?
Candy thermometers and meat thermometers are entirely different on the basis of both structure and functionality, so they are not the same.
In terms of functionality, candy thermometers and meat thermometers are not the same because of their different capability of measuring the temperature. Any regular meat thermometer can measure up to 200° Fahrenheit temperature of cooked meat.
On the contrary, any candy thermometer can measure up to 400° Fahrenheit temperature while making candies.
And in terms of structure/design, a candy thermometer and meat thermometer are not the same because any candy thermometer has a longer probe than a meat thermometer.
Therefore, it’s much easier to measure temperature for candies with a candy thermometer than a meat thermometer without having a risk of skin damage.
What Is The Difference Between A Candy And Meat Thermometer?
In this section, the principal differences between a candy and a meat thermometer have been broken down for your knowledge.
Temperature:
A candy thermometer and a meat thermometer mainly differ in terms of their capacity of measuring the temperature while making meat or candies.
Generally, any regular household meat thermometer is designed to reach temperatures only up to 200° Fahrenheit. It means a meat thermometer can only take calculations of the inner temperature of cooked meat up to 200°F.
On the other hand, candy thermometers are manufactured to reach more than a double temperature than meat thermometers.
Because while making candies, molten sugar can have an as high temperature as 400° Fahrenheit. Therefore, candy thermometers can reach up to 400° F temperature while candy making.
Design:
Design is the other main factor that makes a candy thermometer and a meat thermometer different from each other.
Meat thermometers are developed with a pointed short metal skewer and a dial fixed at the top that can penetrate a joint of cooked meat and measure inner temperature accurately.
Since a removable cable has connected the thermometer with the metal skewer, you can wash the metal skewer.
On the contrary, a candy thermometer is designed in a flat metal rectangular shape where a thermometer is attached in the middle. Since the candy thermometer is long, it is risk-free while measuring the temperature of molten sugar.
Functionality:
Candy thermometers and meat thermometers differ in terms of functionality too.
Meat thermometers have shorter probes than candy thermometers, so they can read the inner temperature closely as the heat is not high.
But the candy thermometers can measure high temperature because they have long as probes which can be left by the side of candy making utensils to read the temperature.
Therefore, with a candy thermometer, there are less chances to get melted sugar splashing on skin causing skin damage.
How To Use A Meat Thermometer For Candy?
Here are a few simple steps that will show you how you can use a meat thermometer for candy.
Get A Digital Meat Thermometer:
The very first step would be getting a digital meat thermometer which is a multi-purpose thermometer for making candies.
Do not use a regular meat thermometer in this process because digital meat thermometers have a long probe that can safely go into high-temperature melting sugar.
Attach The Clip To The Pot:
Digital meat thermometers often come with a clip attached behind the thermometer. So in this step, attach the clip to the pot where you will be making candy to measure the temperature of molten sugar.
The attached clip with the pot makes the removal of the thermometer easier without getting heat on hands.
Turn On The Thermometer:
Now lastly, turn on the thermometer and keep checking the temperature of the molten sugar to make candies. And in case you are not using the thermometer, it will turn off automatically in 10-15 seconds.
What Can You Use Instead Of A Candy Thermometer?
If you don’t have a candy thermometer at home to make your favorite candy, you can use the “Cold-water” method to measure the temperature of your favorite candy.
In this process, take a bowl of ice water and place it next to your candy-making pot. And then take a spoon and pour a small spoonful of syrup in the ice-cold water every few minutes.
After that let the candy cool down for a while and after that form it into little balls by your hand. And lastly, correlate the texture and form of the sweet to the candy chart to decide the temperature of the candy.
Once you will see that your candy has reached your desired phase, take off the pot from the stove and continue with the next step.
You can use this cold-water technique to make toffee, fudge, etc.
Can I Use A Meat Thermometer For Oil?
Only a digital meat thermometer can be used for measuring the temperature of the oil because it can endure up to 500° F temperature. But if it’s a regular meat thermometer that only reaches up to 200°F, it can’t be used because the suitable cooking temperature of oil is much higher than 200°F.
Can I Use Meat Thermometer In Hot Oil?
Any regular meat thermometer cannot be used in hot oil. Because these regular thermometers don’t come with the capacity of reaching such a high temperature that is generally referred to as the suitable temperature of oil while cooking or frying.
Any regular thermometer only can measure up to 200°F which is much lower than the temperature hot oil can get. So practically meat thermometer is ineffective in measuring oil temperature.
Can I Use A Digital Meat Thermometer For Oil?
You surely can use a digital meat thermometer for oil. It’s because digital meat thermometers are manufactured as multi-purpose booking thermometers that have the capacity of reaching more than 500° Fahrenheit temperature.
So a digital meat thermometer can be used for oil as the suitable temperature of oil for cooking goes up to 350° F- 375° F. Therefore, a digital instant-read meat thermometer can withstand this level of high heat.
Do You Need A Special Thermometer For Oil?
As long as you are using a candy or deep-frying thermometer that can reach up to 400°-500° Fahrenheit for measuring oil’s temperature, you don’t need a special thermometer for oil.
However, if it’s not a candy or deep drying cooking thermometer, you will definitely need a Special thermometer for calculating the temperature of the oil.
And in this case, any good quality digital instant-read meat thermometer (all-purpose) is the special thermometer you will be needing.
How To Use A Meat Thermometer For Oil?
Here are the easy steps that have been provided for you to use a meat thermometer for oil easily.
Get Digital Meat Thermometer:
The first step is buying a high-quality digital instant-read meat thermometer, if you don’t have a deep-frying thermometer. But don’t use a regular meat thermometer because it can’t measure such a high temperature of oil while cooking or frying.
Check The Functionality Of Thermometer:
In the next step, check if the thermometer is working or not before you dip it in the oil. For that, take ice water and dip the meat thermometer in the ice water. If the thermometer readings show 0°C /32°F, it means it’s working.
Dip The Thermometer:
At this step, turn on the thermometer and dip it in the oil and allow it to stay in the oil for at least 30 seconds to get an accurate reading. If it’s a glass thermometer, dip it for three minutes in the oil to get readings.
Monitor:
Lastly, keep monitoring until you get the temperature you want for frying or cooking food.
What Can I Use If I Don’t Have An Oil Thermometer?
There are 3 things that you can use for checking the oil temperature if you don’t have an oil thermometer. Here the ways are described below.
Wooden Spoon/Chopsticks:
You can use any wooden spoon or chopstick to measure the temperature of oil without an oil thermometer. For this, just dip a spoon’s handle or chopstick in the oil, if you see there’re steady bubbles near the handle, it’s ready. If the bubbles are rapid, it means oil is too hot.
Kernel Of Popcorn:
Drop a kernel of popcorn in the oil. When it will pop, it means the oil is ready for frying and has reached 360-360 degrees Fahrenheit.
A Piece Of Bread:
You can use a small one-square-inch bread to check the oil temperature. Just drop the bread piece in the oil and wait 60 seconds. If the bread becomes brown within this time, it means the oil is ready and has reached 365° F.
Can I Use A Meat Thermometer For Water?
Only a digital instant-read meat thermometer can be used for checking the water temperature. Because digital meat thermometers are multi-purpose thermometers that can be used for checking the temperature of liquid things too.
Can I Use A Meat Thermometer For Milk?
You can use a meat thermometer for measuring the temperature of milk. But you have to use a digital multi-purpose meat thermometer because it’s suitable for measuring both liquid and solid food’s temperature.
Can I Use A Meat Thermometer For Candle Making?
You absolutely cannot use a regular meat thermometer for the candle making process. Because any regular meat thermometer has a limited capacity to measure temperature which is not sufficient enough for measuring the high temperature of melting wax.
Therefore you should never use a meat thermometer unless it’s a digital meat thermometer that can reach a high temperature.
Can I Use A Meat Thermometer For Fever?
You simply cannot use a meat thermometer for checking the temperature during fever. Because meat thermometers are used for measuring high temperature, they are for measuring the temperature of meat.
Besides, in terms of human body temperature, meat thermometers don’t calibrate for precise readings at the lower end.
What Are Three Main Types Of Thermometers For Food?
The three main types of thermometers for measuring food’s temperature are-
- Meat thermometer
- Candy/deep-fry thermometer
- Digital thermometer (multiple purposes)
Can I Use A Probe Thermometer For Frying?
You can use a probe thermometer for frying. You can use it for both checking the temperature of the oil and the deep-fried food because it has a pointy metal skewer that can go into food to check the inner temperature.
Any regular meat thermometer can’t be used for candy or oil. Because it cannot measure the high temperature of molten sugar, neither can measure the ideal oil temperature for cooking/frying. However, any digital meat thermometer is eligible for measuring the temperature of both candy and oil.