Top Barbecuing Mistakes You Can Avoid with an Instant Read Thermometer

Smoking is not the same as grilling even if both require an instant read thermometer. When you smoke meat, follow the low and slow cooking method. Barbecuing requires patience; you cannot smoke meat when in a hurry. Plan your time well to leave adequate time for smoking your favorite meat. Time and expertise when smoking meat is a twin you cannot separate.

If you lack either of the two, your meat might not cook well. As cooking delicious and flavorful meat is your goal, consider not making any mistakes. If you make mistakes, you might think that your digital food thermometer is inaccurate. Make sure you are using a high-quality thermometer before cooking. Then, get familiar with some of the mistakes that most people make when barbecuing meat.

Top 9 mistakes you can make and blame your instant read thermometer

1. Cooking BBQ meat too fast

Perhaps you have a party, and there is no adequate time to cook meat for the attendants. In that case, do not choose the smoking method. You can roast meat on the grill rather than smoke it fast and risk people’s health. When smoking fatty meat, you might have to wait two hours.

But when cooking tough cuts of meat, you might leave them overnight. Do not add more heat to rush your smoker, or else you will serve overcooked and inedible meat.

If you rush your cooking, do not blame it on your best instant read meat thermometer. Instead, teach yourself to wait until the correct time for cooking meat ends.

2. Opening the lid many times

Each time you open your smoker’s lid, you allow some heat to dissipate. That heat should cook your meat. Smoke will also disappear into the air, and you need it to flavor your meat. Due to constant lid opening and heat loss, your meat might take longer to cook.

Find a way to add fuel without opening the lid. If your smoking time ends and the meat is still raw, you might think that your best meat thermometer is inaccurate. The reality is that you are the cause. Always open the lid an hour before your target cooking time and a few minutes before.

You should pull meat from the grill before achieving the target internal cooking temperature. The carryover cooking will bring the meat to a safe internal temperature.

3. Forgetting to control the smoker temperature

Having a smoker thermometer does not mean you are all set. The smoker’s acceptable range is 225 °F to 250 °F (107 °C to 121 °C). If you forget to maintain this temperature throughout the cooking time, you might overcook or undercook your meat.

When there is excess smoke, open the top air vent. Then, control smoker temperature with the bottom air vent. If the heat is excess, open it; close it to mimic an oven. The best cooking thermometer does not control the grill temperature; you do it.

4. Not reading the internal temperature chart for different meats

Meat contains pathogens that can cause troublesome symptoms in humans. Each type of meat should cook at the recommended minimum internal temperature. If you fail to read the USDA food chart, you may cook all kinds of meat the same way.

If you are a novice, read the food temp chart to understand how to cook your favorite meat. Then use an instant read thermometer to check that it is cooking at the safest internal temperature. Do not cook lean meat the same way you do fatty meat.

The latter has enough juices to keep it moist while the former needs regular moisturizing not to dry out. If you make mistakes here, you might think that the instant read meat thermometer is not working well.

5. Placing too many cuts in the smoker

Do not cook too many pieces of meat at once. It might lead to overcrowding, which might negatively affect smoke circulation in the chamber. Additionally, the cuts may not be cooked evenly no matter how long the barbecuing session lasts. If you also use a lot of wood, you might ruin your cooking completely. In this situation, your cooking mistakes have nothing to do with the accuracy of your BBQ thermometer.

6. Oiling the grill grates

Experts are against oiling your cooking grates. Instead, they advise people to oil the food they are cooking. The grates become hot due to preheating.

If you oil them, you might cause a flare-up that can be hard to put out. When the oil burns, it will cause a gummy residue to form. The residue will then attach your meat to the cooking grates, causing it to dry out and break apart.

If such a thing occurs, your meat thermometer is not the cause. You should oil your meat or food next time.

7. Failure to preheat your grill

When you place meat over a cold grill, your cooking might fail. It might appear cooked on the outside while the inside is raw. If you make the mistake of not using your electronic meat thermometer, you might not notice it.

It is necessary to preheat your grill before you start smoking meat. Make sure that all burners are on the highest setting. If using charcoal or wood, wait until you notice white-gray ashes.

 8. Mixing up your tongs

A kitchen thermometer can let you cook your meat fully to kill all the bacteria. However, your thermometer is not to blame for the poor handling of cooked food. Do not use the tongs you use to grip raw meat to hold cooked meat.

It might cause cross-contamination. You can color-code the tools you use for raw meat and those you use for cooked food. This can reduce the confusion and eliminate the cross-contamination risk.

9. Do not cut meat to check doneness level

When you cut food to check the level of doneness, you will have a problem. The bruised areas might overcooked if they had not been cooked properly. People might not like your meat if it has cooked and overcooked areas.

Instead of cutting into the cuts of meat, use a high-quality remote thermometer to see the internal temperature of the thickest part. You can use a multi-channel thermometer when cooking many pieces of meat or a whole bird.

Conclusion

We have revealed eight mistakes you can make when smoking meat and think that your grill thermometer is inaccurate or faulty. If you can avoid these mistakes, you can cook the juiciest and tastiest meats. If an instant read thermometer is functional, and you are not making blunders, your BBQ cooking will be fine.