The Maverick ET-73 Redi-Chek® Wireless Remote Smoker Thermometer is the perfect tool for barbecuing.
Big cuts of meat require low heat and long cooking times to be transformed into that smoky, tender fare that we crave. And those long times mean that the pit master is often chained to the cooker. That’s fine if it’s a sunny afternoon and there’s a ready supply of company and adult beverages. It stinks if it’s just you and your bunny slippers crawling out of a warm bed in the middle of the night.
The ET-73 has two sensors that monitor the temperature of both the meat and the smoking chamber and transmits them up to 100 feet to a portable receiver. So instead of having to go out to check on the cooker all the time, you can just check the display on the receiver.
The thermometer also has two alarms that can be set independently – one goes off if the temperature of the smoking chamber goes above or below a range that you set, and another goes off when the temperature of the meat reaches your preset internal temperature. Because both smoker and meat temperatures are monitored, the chances of a perfect cook go up dramatically.
Before doing any big overnight cooks, I gave my ET-73 a trial run on a pork loin. It took about 15 minutes to get the unit out of the box, install the (thoughtfully included) AAAs, and read enough of the manual to figure out how the set the alarms.
I set the Big Green Egg up for indirect cooking and got the fire stabilized at 300°F dome temperature. I set the smoker alarm to alert me if the temperature at the grate went above 325°F or below 275°F. I set the food alarm to let me know when the loin hit 140°F internal. Then I loaded everything up, closed the lid, and just walked away.
About an hour later, the alarm on my handy remote unit informed me that there was an issue with the grate temperature being too low. I checked, and while the dome temp was an acceptable 275°F, the temp at the grate was only 255°F. No problem – a small adjustment on the bottom vent and the grate temperature rose to 305°F. Again, I walked away. A little over an hour after that the meat alarm went off telling me that the loin had hit 140°F internal.
Perfect.
