My thermometer lied for 6 months, here's what finally gave it away

I noticed my chicken wings coming out pale and rubbery even though the oil said 350. Turns out the thermometer probe was sitting in a dried crust of batter and reading 20 degrees hot the whole time. I only caught it after I calibrated it in boiling water on a whim last Sunday in my kitchen in Spokane. My last 4 batches were basically steamed at 330 instead of fried, no wonder they tasted like sad cafeteria food. Has anyone else had a probe fail slowly like this or did I just get a lemon?

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david3710d agoProlific Poster

That "reading 20 degrees hot" part hit home for me. I had a similar thing happen with a meat thermometer I used for years, except mine drifted the opposite way and read cold. I only figured it out when I tried to temp some water for a bread recipe and it said 170, which felt way too low for water that was about to boil. Sure enough, the probe had a tiny crack in the wire right where it meets the handle, and moisture got in there and messed up the sensor. I ended up just buying a new one because I didn't trust it anymore. It's wild how these things can fail so slowly you don't even notice the food getting worse.