Mother Would Know

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Mother should have known – read kitchen gadget directions

January 18, 2011 by Laura Leave a Comment

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Yesterday I tried my first-ever pork tenderloin. Read directions is what my mother always taught me. This is a tale of how I ignored that sound advice and almost ruined a great dinner.

meat thermometer, melted gadget, ruined thermometer, read directions

Plastic meat thermometer after misadventure

After buying a lovely piece of meat and researching various cooking methods and marinades, I settled on my cooking “plan of action.” Being an experienced cook, I felt comfortable merging two recipes; I used the marinade from one recipe and a cooking method from another. Comfortable perhaps, but in retrospect a more accurate description might be a tad overconfident.

I even figured out that pork must be cooked to a safe “internal” temperature. I took out a meat thermometer, stuck it into the tenderloin at just the right spot and put the meat into the oven.  My mom had given me an old fashioned meat thermometer, but I couldn’t find that one. Instead, I used the new, fancy one I bought last year for Thanksgiving but never used.

Being naturally impatient, I looked into the oven a few minutes later. Lo and behold, the plastic thermometer was melting!  Springing into emergency mode, I pulled the pan out of the oven, retrieved the melting object and began a tirade worthy of a sailor. My ever-calm better half, pulled the thermometer directions and started reading them to me with just a hint of a smile.

directions, meat thermometer

Duh! Right on the case of thermometer.

Luckily, I had another thermometer, and the first one hadn’t melted onto the meat. We went on to have a lovely dinner – so lovely that I forgot to take a picture. But I haven’t forgotten the lesson – at least not yet.  Next time I take out a new gadget, I’ll read the directions.

Filed Under: Archives, Pork Tagged With: how to

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