TIL spending $150 on a wireless meat thermometer was either genius or a total waste

I put a brisket on my WSM at 6 AM last Saturday, set up my new ThermoPro TP25, and went back to bed. Woke up to an alert that the meat hit 165 after 4 hours, but when I ran outside the smoker temp had dropped to 180 because the wind kicked up. The probe saved me from a stalled cook, but then the battery died at hour 8 and I had to guess the final temp anyway. Did I just get lucky or are these bluetooth probes actually worth it for overnight cooks?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron_webb7d ago

Happens all the time with new tech - we spend money to take control of something unpredictable, and then a dead battery reminds us we're still at the mercy of the basic stuff. I've noticed this pattern everywhere, not just with smokers. People buy smart thermostats, then spend the whole winter fighting with the app while the actual temperature goes haywire. Your brisket story is just another example of how we keep trying to outsmart things that are fundamentally simple, like heat and meat. Ever notice how the old timers who just wrap their shoulder in foil and go to sleep always seem to end up with perfectly cooked pork?

gonzalez.grant7d ago

That old timer point is EXACTLY what gets me thinking though @cameron_webb. Do you think those guys actually understand the science better than us, or did they just learn to trust their senses instead of data on a screen? I swear every time I try to "dial in" my cook with gadgets, I end up overthinking it and messing something simple up. Meanwhile my grandpa could throw a pork butt on a 30 year old offset, drink beer for 12 hours, and never touch a thermometer. Makes you wonder if all this tech is actually making us worse cooks instead of better ones.