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- Verified Buyer
I broke another brand of inexpensive candy and deep-frying thermometer by doing something stupid -- letting some fat get way too hot and then putting the thermometer in. That was my fault, not the thermometer's.I decided to buy this particular thermometer because it has a metal probe, and if it breaks, it won't leave glass, glue or inner workings in my hot fat the way the glass thermometer did when it broke. The dial is also easy to read.This very inexpensive candy/fry thermometer also got many high ratings from professional chefs on another wholesale restaurant supply warehouse site -- and no negatives. (It is available for less at wholesale restaurant supply sites, but only if you are buying a lot of other gadgets, pans, or whatever at the same time.) This is what real cooks use when they just want to get an idea of the temperature range of a liquid they are cooking. Period.The people who use this for frying and gave it five stars here probably cook the same way I do. Well, at least on my better days. :)I find it annoying that people write bad reviews of a perfectly good and reasonably priced gadget, complaining because they were careless and broke it, or because it does not compare with another gadget that costs at least 20 times more. :(This Taylor TruTemp Candy & Deep Fry Dial Thermometer is a very reasonably priced workable gadget -- not a robot. It is not going to do your cooking for you, put the results on a platter and serve them to you on a table with tablecloth, candelabra and fine linen napkins. I paid under $6 for it and I am very happy with it!Even the most precise scientific instruments, and some much more expensive thermometers can be "off" by several degrees. That doesn't bother me at all. For under $6 I have an indication of when I am getting close to the right temperature, and then I can drop a cube of bread or a sample spoonful of something into the fat and see how long it takes to brown, float, or whatever. I can also drop a bit of sugar syrup into a cup of cold water and see if it makes a soft ball, hard ball, cracks, or whatever -- these stages are not just names, they are descriptions of tests that you MUST do if you cook and want to achieve a consistent product. That's all there is to it.That is what cooking is all about.The proper way to use this thermometer is to adjust the clip and the thermometer so that the probe is immersed in the liquid, but not touching the bottom or sides of the pan, BEFORE you start heating the liquid, and then to gradually heat the liquid -- using this thermometer as a guide. One must also use one's eyes, hands and brain.Yes, the lens protecting the dial is plastic, not glass, but even glass can break in hot fat. For the price, this is just fine.I repeat: It is inexpensive. It gives you the right range of temperature. It won't put broken glass in your liquids if it breaks. I never depend on a gadget to tell me how to cook -- because the human eye, hand and brain are the better judge of how to really cook. After you have made a recipe a few times, your nose and ears will also help you judge when it is time to move on to the next step.A basic cookbook like The Joy of Cooking. Fanny Farmer's Boston Cooking School Cookbook, or one of the Betty Crocker books (are these too old? I'm sure there are more recent cookbooks with lots of good pictures and descriptions in them) can teach you how to tell when you reach the right stage, which is more important than exact temperature. This is basic cooking -- if you want to do frying or candy-making. That's all.This is not a $100+ thermometer. It is a handy device for indicating if you are near your goal. People have cooked without thermometers for thousands of years, and without thermopens for almost as long!
