My mom's old meat thermometer changed how I air fry everything

I was visiting my mom last Thanksgiving and she pulled out this ancient analog thermometer from the 80s. She stuck it in the turkey like always. I laughed and told her about my fancy digital probe. But then she used it to check my air fryer chicken that I brought over. Turns out my digital one was off by a full 15 degrees. I tested it against hers a few times with water and it was consistent. Now I use her old thermometer every time I cook chicken in my air fryer. Has anyone else found that old school tools work better than the new stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor_fox1mo ago

Yeah the "digital = better" thing falls apart more than people want to admit. My dad has a meat thermometer from the 70s that's just a needle on a dial. I tested my fancy Bluetooth probe against it and same thing, off by a solid 10 degrees. It's like with microwaves now. My mom's old microwave from 1987 still cooks evenly. Every new one I've tried has hot spots that burn the edges and leave the middle cold. Or think about toasters. The old two slot ones with a simple knob last 20 years. The new ones with digital screens and bagel modes break in two. Sometimes simpler stuff just works better because there's less to go wrong.

beth_hart681mo ago

My old KitchenAid toaster from 1996 still works great, @taylor_fox.