Without a doubt, grilling is one of the best ways to prepare meat. Whether one wants the simple salted taste of smoked meat or juicy, marinated steaks and barbecues, grilling provides all these and more. In addition to being a tasty way to prepare meat and vegetables, grilling is generally something that a family considers as a fun activity. This is because families usually grill in their yard where they can enjoy other activities as well.
However simple grilling might seem, there's actually a lot of effort entailed in preparing food that way. The person grilling meat has to ensure that it's cooked and safe for consumption or else risk exposing everyone to harmful bacteria. Some bacteria found in meat can cause severe stomach pain, which is definitely something that should be avoided. The good thing about determining meat's readiness for consumption is that meat thermometers provide a solution to this specific problem.
But the sad part about this is that even with the availability of meat thermometers and their relatively cheap price tags, people still prefer to use old methods of checking meat readiness. There are rare occasions where using unreliable means of checking meat is acceptable. One is that the thermometer already owned gets busted during grilling and there's no way to run over to the nearest department store to buy one. Beyond those types of scenarios, there really aren’t any justifiable reasons to skip out on using meat thermometer when grilling.
One traditional method of checking meat if it is cooked is by checking the juices as the meat cooks. A lot of grilling tips on the internet are misguided in recommending this method. The gist of it is that when juices are clear, the meat is likely ready to eat. It may sound sensible but the truth is there are numerous factors that can affect the color of meat juices. There are two likely results when dependent on this method and that's either overcooking or undercooking. The former being more probably than the two especially if the grill isn't that clean to begin with.
Another interesting yet misguided method of checking if meat is ready to eat is by poking it. Testing the softness of meat and then comparing it to some areas of the hand which are designated with different tiers of meat readiness such as rare, medium rare and well-done. Sadly, different types of meat as well as different cuts of meat don't have the same consistency of softness. Neither are human hands having the same softness to begin with. It's interesting to know more about this on grill sites and blogs. But to be practical, it's best to just buy a meat thermometer.
Meat thermometers aren't expensive, for sure. If anyone can buy themselves a good grilling equipment, then they most definitely can afford a grill thermometer. But just like any other items, being an educated buyer is highly advised. Check out some of the best grill thermometers on review sites to avoid buying on that won't last long.