Tech

Cook a perfect turkey with the help of the Meater wireless thermometer and your smartphone

While some people are good at focusing on the cooking process, many of us multi-task and need some help getting things right. The Meater wireless thermometer is designed to work in conjuction with your smartphone to cook things properly and I've had great success through the summer season with it.

Written by Matthew Miller, Contributing Writer Nov. 20, 2018 at 7:21 a.m. PT

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Millions in America will be cooking turkey or ham for the Thanksgiving holiday and a meat thermometer is an essential part of cooking things just right. You don't want to end up with a dried up turkey like Clark Griswold and one of the Meater wireless thermometers is the perfect accessory to ensure success.

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For years I have barbequed meat, but could not guarantee perfection because I always tried multi-tasking while cooking and ended up overcooking the contents on the Weber grill. I've always heard that temperature is an essential factor to successful barbeques and after using the original Meater wireless thermometer I enjoyed great steaks, chicken, and burgers all summer long.

Hardware

I started testing the original Meater thermometer before the Meater Plus was released. The Meater Plus is the same as the Meater with the charging case acting as a repeater to extend the Bluetooth range so you can position your phone further away from the cooking source. There is also an upcoming Meater Block product that supports using up to four Meater probes for those of you who are serious about cooking for many people at once.

The Meater smart wireless meat thermometer comes in a simple cardboard package and is composed of two main parts; the Meater probe and the charger. The charger is a block of wood with a slot for the probe, contacts to hold the probe in place and facilitate charging, an LED indicator to show charging and pairing status, and an opening on the back for the single AAA that is used to charge up the Meater. Simply press the button on the front to check the LED light.

There are two magnets on the back so you can attach the Meater charging block to a metal surface for storage, such as in your barbeque cabinet or on your refrigerator.

The Meater probe is constructed of stainless steel with a water resistant design to prevent rusting of components. Bluetooth 4.0 is used for the wireless connection to your smartphone or the repeater (found on the Meater Plus charger).

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Make sure to insert the probe into the thickest part of the meat and ensure you insert it all the way down past the safety notch and before the end of the handle. The internal sensor is located about midway between the pointy end and the safety notch.

Smartphone software

There are Meater apps for iOS and Android phones and tablets. I used both over the past couple of months and they have the same experience. You need to remove the Meater probe from the charging station and then pair it with your selected device. This is also when you choose to connect to Meater cloud so you can access the status from other devices when your primary device is connected directly to the Meater probe via Bluetooth.

After pairing your Meater and inserting the probe into your meat, select what you want to cook from the five available options; beef, pork, poultry, lamb, and fish. You can also setup custom cooking if you are not cooking any of these five options.

After you tap the primary category, you then select what type of cut you are cooking. You are presented with a temperature range for different levels of cooking, such as rare up to well done for a steak. Select your desired temperature and then choose to start cooking. Meater will give you an estimated cooking time based on current internal and ambient temperatures.

Various notifications can be setup to alarm at different points during the cooking process or you can visually watch the Meater temperature status right in the app. It is very easy to use and has proven to be accurate with great success in cooking meats.

Meater smart wireless thermometer: in pictures

You can also use a second phone or tablet to connect directly to the Meater probe via Bluetooth and then use your primary phone to connect via WiFi and the cloud to monitor your meat cooking. The upcoming Meater Block will also serve as this second phone/tablet device to extend the range to WiFi.

Meater also works with Amazon Alexa so you can find out all about your cooking process without ever looking at your phone or tablet.

Experiences and conclusions

After installing the application on my smartphone, it was easy to pair the Meater to my phone. I inserted the cold Meater probe into the meat and placed the meat on the barbeque. I then used the app to monitor conditions and then reached over to pull the Meater probe from the finished meat. The end of the Meater probe is metal, used to measure the ambient temperature in the cooking environment, and I burned my fingers. Please use a hot pad or glove to pull the Meater probe from your meat and be careful.

The Meater thermometer is designed to be used on the barbeque, in the oven, and with other cooking sources, but do not use it in the microwave. Microwave ovens do not like metal products and use of Meater is not intended for microwave cooking.

While I first tested the Meater with chicken, over the summer I also used it with steak, hamburgers, and fish. I had much more confidence cooking with the Meater wireless thermometer and the $69 price seems reasonable since you could burn up a few steaks for that price if you just cook by sight.

Meater advertises that you can cook for over 24 hours with a charged up Meater and cook up to 100 times with one AAA battery. I am still using the first AAA battery that came with the unit so the advertised battery times may be accurate.

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The maximum internal temperature of the Meater is 212 degrees Fahrenheit and with most meats in the 150 to 170 degree range, it is more than adequate. Actually, if you cook meat to this internal temperature, then it will be dry, tough, and tasteless with no moisture left inside. Undercooked meat freaks out my wife so using the Meater she is much more confident in my abilities. She also uses it for inside cooking and looks forward to using it for the Thanksgiving turkey.

The Meater ambient limit is 527 degrees, which should cover most barbeques and be good for estimating resting temperatures.

It is great to see the use of smartphones and wireless technology in a product such as Meater. My meat cooking has been taken to the next level and I couldn't be happier with the performance of this wireless thermometer.