Innocently enough, I added an item to my Christmas list this year: meat thermometer.

Little did I know that what I was going to get was much more than what I had in mind when I wrote those two words.

My in-laws got me a Meater, which I had never heard of before Christmas morning, and didn’t really understand until a few weeks later, when I used it for the first time.

The sleek little stainless steel stick is what its makers call “the world’s first wireless meat thermometer.”

Meater 101

Here’s how it works: you turn the Meater’s bluetooth on, and sync it with your phone. Then you input some simple information: what kind of protein you’re cooking and the temperature you prefer to eat it. The Meater handily suggests temperatures for you, all you have to do is choose.

Finally, you insert the Meater into your meat, making sure it’s inserted far enough to pass a small ridge on the stick. And then you start cooking.

It quickly got very cool: I could see what temperature my meat was at at any given moment. I saw a countdown clock. And I could see the ambient temperature in my oven, which let me adjust it one way or the other to get closest to the recommended temperature of whatever recipe I was using. Once the alarm goes off, Meater builds in a suggested “resting” time, and gives you a second alarm when it’s time to eat.

Here’ the really great part about the Meater: it works. Really well. I’ve used it, so far, with a whole chicken and a pork tenderloin, and both times, the meat came out perfect. I can be a bit of a nervous cook, particularly when it comes to meat other than beef, so the Meater turned out to be just the thing to soothe my worries about serving undercooked (or overcooked) meat.

I know the world is fully of techie kitchen gadgets. But in my book, this one is well worth its price tag. I won’t cook meat without it.

This post is not sponsored, and the opinions are mine, but does use affiliate links.