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I get how this could be useful for things, like checking the inside of a steak. But my only concern is that I've cooked my whole life without worrying about te

I get how this could be useful for things, like checking the inside of a steak. But my only concern is that I've cooked my whole life without worrying about temperature. I have now learned how something "cooked" looks, and how long it should take. So if I were to get a temperature reading I'd have no knowledge of what the correct result should be. I guess what I'm saying is that it seems like I'd need to retrain my whole cooking experience, which doesn't seem like it would be worth it.

IvyMike 13y ago
Checking a steak (or most foods) for doneness is something it can't do, though--it can't see inside food. (You could get an "instant read" probe thermometer, like the Thermapen, but I did not recommend this because I don't use it that often for exactly the reason you mention: I usually have a good intuition if something is done or not already.) Some more examples: If you want to make sure the oil for frying the chicken is at the right temperature, which is something you may already do with a conventional thermometer, this will make that faster and easier. Wine experts (of which I am NOT one) have a whole "optimum serving temperature" list. The infrared thermometer is an easy way to check that. Beer, too. http://www.bettertastingwine.com/temperature.html http://www.bettertastingwine.com/temperature.html I mentioned checking your oven thermometer (which are notoriously poorly calibrated), but another use is finding hot/cold spots in your oven. I don't do anything with chocolate, but if I did, I'd check the temperature with this. When I make coffee or tea, I bring water to boiling... but then you're supposed to let it cool a bit, somewhere in the 180-200 degree range.