I bought a Pyrex digital thermometer with probe, only to find out that it
doesn't like temperatures above 398F. Several reviews on Amazon said that
the probes fail and melt at higher temps. Can anyone recommend a thermometer
that is designed for real-life oven temps?

I can work around it for now by cooking at high temp to brown and then
lowering, waiting for the oven to cool down to the thermometer's safe range,
inserting the probe and continuing to cook. But that is really annoying to
have to do.

-JasonW

JasonW > wrote:
>I bought a Pyrex digital thermometer with probe, only to find out that it
>doesn't like temperatures above 398F. Several reviews on Amazon said that
>the probes fail and melt at higher temps. Can anyone recommend a thermometer
>that is designed for real-life oven temps?
>
>I can work around it for now by cooking at high temp to brown and then
>lowering, waiting for the oven to cool down to the thermometer's safe range,
>inserting the probe and continuing to cook. But that is really annoying to
>have to do.

Yes, it is, but it's what you have to do with all of the
"kitchen" probe thermometers. What happens is the glue
holding the thermocouple in the probe and/or the insulation
will melt. I do not know exactly why they don't use a
better grade of materials.

I bought an industrial-quality pyrometer (fancy name for
a thermometer that goes way high):

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?P...&PARTPG=INLMK3

but it doesn't have a metal probe for the thermocouple,
just two wires stuck together with a tiny weld. So it's
not durable enough for use in everyday cooking, but my
interests were more scientific.

In a way, it's logical to do the browning without the
thermometer and then the roasting with it, because the
browning is about time and appearance, and the roasting
is about cooking to a particular internal temperature.

--Blair
"At least, that's my excuse."