Allotments 4 All

I hope it's not naughty to note that Lakeland now have a digital meat thermo at a very reasonable price.

Couldn't live without mine. Especially for jam & fudge!

really Tim, you use a meat thermometer for jam and sweets....hmmm...my sugar thermometer is a pain as the paint long washed away so it is hard to see the markings, and I guess digital is instant, whereas I have to balance my thermometer in the hot liquid for ages and ages....hmmm....I shall take a look.

All my cooking has been done to date by 'instinct' ie I only use a recipe as a general overview of how the dish should develop. I think I need to concentrate on using certain tools, eg a thermometer to get better consistency with some cooking.

When making tablet I just drop some in a cup of cold water and see if it forms a ball. MAde jam for the first time last summer and tested it on a saucer like the recipe told me. Keep meaning t buy a thermometer but never get round to it. :)

Even if you like to test manually, it's still nice to have a bell ring to tell you that it's time to test!!

Instinct? Great. But the children, these days, are very conscious about safety, esp with birds & pork. And esp useful for eg 7 hr Lamb - or any 'bottom oven' cooking - difficult to judge otherwise.

Not instantaneous, the cheaper ones, EJ, but SO much easier! Ours is a Mastrad - V nice.