Your Fav BBQ Tool?

I only use two, instant read and tongs.

Maybe we should have a thread just on BBQ thermometers. You don’t use a leave-in?

My recent brisket cook was the first time I’d used a separate air temp probe. My Texas pit has a fixed air thermometer I thought was pretty accurate–wrong!

I’ve been thinking of buying one of the new wireless insertables with the predictive software. But I relaized that it’d make less sense where the fire waxes and wanes, and would probably work best with completely constant heat, like in a conventional oven.

Anyone here have and use a Yummly or Meater?

I have both after reading a lot thread here. I use the Meater more, but in the house. This one.

I have different ones, I think by thermoworks, for the smoker.

Thanks. Do you have a preference?

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I’ve been preferring the Meater lately because it seemed more accurate, but don’t love the user interface, and the last time I used it, it didn’t seem accurate. FWIW, I used to them with relatively small pieces of meat. Perhaps there is a way to recalibrate them, but I haven’t tried it.

There is a worthless Weber thermometer built into the Smokey Mountain. My only other thermometer is the Thermapen. It is so quick, so easy, and so reliable that I do not feel a need for anything else.

I’m no stranger to the flimsy, worthless analog thermometers built into kettles, etc. The one in my Chuckwagon Texas pit is hell-for stout and appears generally accurate. The Type K lab probe, however, proved it to be off.

The thing about leave-ins is that you don’t dump heat every time you open the pit to check. I have enough problems as it is keeping the heat just right for Q.

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Thermoworks is having 30% off on remote thermometers.

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Thanks. Did they add a truly remote unit? Last I checked they had a wired “station” that sits outside the pit or oven and that communicates remotely to your device.

I only want a wireless probe for the predictive feature; my pit is close to my back door… Unless/until I get a pellet-fed pit, I have to feed and tend the fire (and sample beer) anyway. I have a wired leave-in, and the air probe fits through the rotisserie hole.

Red plastic instant read thermometer. No single other BBQ or kitchen utensil has saved so many of my meals.

My SO can cook decently, but I got him one as a stocking stuffer and he’s like “I’ve never used one, never needed one” and I’m like… “yeah, I’ve had your grilled chicken. Here.”

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Wait. So is it his or yours?
I’ve been married so asking from experience.
:slight_smile:

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LOL, he has one now; I have two - one for the kitchen, one for the BBQ/smoker. We don’t plan to live together until retirement since he has his son and I have my mom but we take turns cooking for each other. He does some stuff incredibly (his split pea soup is the freaking bomb) but he tends to overcook pork and chicken, particularly on the grill. My smoker is more idiot proof (traeger), but my smokes come out better due to that, and I am a grill head, even though his grill is hooked to the home gas line (I use a propane tank for outside and have a range top inside which kills me, though not enough to spring the 10K to replace the whole system and it is easier to clean).

He does absolutely dominate sauces. His Alabama white sauce is incredible, and he does his own BBQ sauces (not professionally) and compound butters, so when we do live together, with me on the grill and him saucing, we’ll be unstoppable. But the man can’t grill a chicken thigh to save his life and so I nag him about the thermometer. Last time the poor thing was at 200.

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Careful… truly remote units are BTLE and have notoriously poor range, especially when under a steel hood. The wired stations are usually wifi and have the advantage of the radio being outside… hence far greater range.

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Tremendous!
A bbq love story.
:wink:

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Makes complete sense. This pit is made from oil well casing, so it’s likely even less range.

As I said before, the “stand afar” aspect isn’t a biggie for me.

Need to start a dating website called OKCookit.

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I do use leave-in for a lot of large meats, like a standing rib roast, pork shoulder, brisket, etc. I have a couple of 25+ years old dual-probe Maverick probe thermometers that are still working well except they don’t communicate well anymore with the remote reader, or the remote reader is ignoring them.

I like one probe in the meat and the other dangling somewhere inside the grill reading air temp.

I don’t generally use a thermometer on smaller cuts, I just go by look/feel.

All you need, man. I have a little one by my camper similar. I had to take out a hickory last summer, so I cut a bunch thin enough to grill with. Mine is CI, but the same “hibachi” concept. Little thing makes the best kabobs on earth. All my neighbors buy the cooking craze du jour, then they come away from their pricey smokers and that to eat off my $5 setup while they wait for their briskets. One of my neighbors bought a $1200 salamander to use in a property he visits maybe 3 times per year. I think I’m gonna make a rocket stove this year, just to further my poboy status.

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Yes, those interest me (as well) If you are successful please post about it.
I’m not much of a welder, but I wouldn’t mind trying to make one out of black iron pipe (if I could screw it together)??

:sweat_smile: F’n funny, thanks for that!