At first glance, the product looks like an ordinary gadget: culinary thermo-probes with Bluetooth control have been known on the market for a long time, and have hardly changed for the kitchen. Yes, it is almost ordinary, but only with the exception of the "little thing" that we are now talking about a completely wireless probe - a thermometer - "Full-Wireless".
According to the manufacturer, this is the very first fully wireless meat probe thermometer, model 74300 from the French company Mastrad. It sticks into meat / fish / poultry, and with them is placed in / on a source of heating and / or smoke, without any wires. Setting and control of the cooking process is carried out via the Bluetooth interface using an application on a smartphone or tablet (free Meat ° it application is available in the App Store and Google Play), compatible with mobile devices iPhone, iPad (iOS version 9.1 or higher) and Android (version 5.0 and higher). One application is allowed to operate with four such probes simultaneously.
Specifications will come later. And for starters, let's try this thermal probe as a household thermometer. This, of course, is not serious, since the readings are indicated with an accuracy of only a whole degree (and more is not required for a kitchen thermometer), but it confidently demonstrates my 36 ° C. And this is good news - I really feel normal, which is confirmed by a household electronic body thermometer.
This thermometer probe can be used on thin cuts of meat at least 15 mm thick (burgers, chicken fillet, rib eye steak, etc.), or on thicker cuts (shoulder, brisket, loin on the bone, whole chicken, turkey, etc.). People also manage to use this probe when making savory pies.
It is strange, but this product is leaky, and therefore the manufacturer warns that it cannot be completely immersed in liquids (black ceramic part), and cannot be used in pressure cookers, for stewing in sauce, in sous vide devices, frying in oil or deep fat. Although the device is suitable for use in steam ovens. Also, for obvious reason, this probe cannot be used when heated by microwaves - this will be fatal both for the probe and, possibly, for the magnetron. For all other sources of heating or smoking, including induction, the device is suitable.
Model parameters:
Probe withstands extreme operating temperatures ranging from -30 ° C to 300 ° C, as well as direct contact with fire (up to 3 minutes, 600 ° C).
Temperature measurement: from 0 ° C to + 100 ° C with precision accuracy. The sensors in the product are part of a unique patented technology.
Range of wireless communication between the transmitter and a mobile device via Bluetooth:
• without obstacles - up to 20 meters;
• in a closed oven - up to 10 meters;
• in a closed metal smokehouse or barbecue - up to 5 meters.
The total length of the probe is about 11 cm, the length of the metal part of the probe is 8 cm, the diameter of the metal part of the probe is about 6 mm. The dimensions of the charging station are 14 cm x 5.5 cm. The length of the complete USB-A - microUSB cable for charging is 1 meter.
The capacity of the li-ion battery built into the probe is 30 mAh, which is enough, according to the manufacturer, for continuous operation of the product without recharging for at least 24 hours. The probe is recharged on the complete docking station via the microUSB connector on it.
The charge current is not more than 25 mA, that is, any charger with a USB connector (not included in the package), or a USB-A port in a laptop / computer will do.A full charge from scratch takes about 2 hours. The probe automatically turns off 30 minutes after the loss of connection with the application on the mobile gadget, or inactivity (no connection, no temperature changes). There is no other way to turn off the probe.
The Bluetooth version of the product is 4.1. The application on the mobile gadget confidently automatically re-establishes the connection with the probe after signal loss as the distance increases or an obstacle occurs, and does not require reconfiguration or restart. Checked!
Official website of the product
🔗, manufacturer
🔗 Start of model production - second half of 2018 Manufactured - of course in China!
Manufacturer's warranty period:
• for civilized Europe - 2 years;
• for the USA - 1 year;
• for other countries - as the specific importer / seller of this product decides.
Current price of the product (excluding shipping costs): from the manufacturer - € 69, from other sellers - from € 50 to € 100. This particular copy was purchased on 05/29/2020 in Kiev (
🔗) with a 20% discount, which amounted to 1987.00 hryvnia, about € 66. The date of manufacture of the product is 34 weeks of 2019.
Model awards:
• Red Dot Design Award 2019 Winner,
🔗• Finaliste 2019 de l'Observeur du Design - Paris - 2019
• Finaliste 2019 de Houseware Design awards - US - 2019
• Honoree 2019 du CES INNOVATION AWARD 2019 - US Las Vegas - 2019
• Finaliste 2018 des Global Innovation Awards 2018, catégorie Smart Home, US Chicago - 2019
The complete set of the product: a probe on a docking station, a device for extracting a hot probe from meat (on a docking station), a USB - microUSB cable, and a thin brochure - an assistant for starting work with the probe. Complete operating instructions and FAQs are available on the product website.
Above, in the photo, a box of matches and a Soviet-era mercury thermometer - for a comparative assessment of sizes.
The kit includes a device for extracting a hot probe from freshly cooked meat. On the forums and in reviews, people write that such a probe is quite normally removed with the help of a kitchen potholder. But here I understand the manufacturer - it is easier for him to put such a device into the kit than to act as a defendant in a court case on the burn of the fingers of users whose hands grow from aphedron ...
On the back of the docking station, metal magnets are visible, which turn on / activate the probe. The strength of the magnets is sufficient to securely hold the docking probe on a vertical metal surface.
The metal part of the probe is made of food grade 18/10 stainless steel. It contains a battery, electronic filling, and a temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the meat. In operation, this part must be immersed in the meat so that the temperature of the above components is within the permissible operating limits, preferably no more than 100 ° C.
Probe head, black, made of high temperature ceramic. Inside it are a Bluetooth antenna, a second thermal sensor that measures the external heating temperature, a reed switch for activating / turning on the probe, and at the end of one of the contacts for recharging the probe. The second contact for recharging is the metal body of the probe itself.
Before putting this probe into action, anticipating the completely normal and correct question “Why is it so expensive, is it necessary?”, I will say a few words about the motivation for such an acquisition. And I had at least three motives:
1. I have some big and heavy enough pottery from Emile Henry, with thick enough ceramic lids to close tightly enough for oven baking. To keep the temperature of meat inside such massive ceramics under control is not at all easy and not convenient to get something hot, open it, measure the temperature, close it, put it back in the oven. Well, here you probably understood - now, with such a probe, everything is under control without these "dancing with a tambourine."
2. I have an insulated two-layer tandoor with a massive heavy clay lid. Here everything is similar to point 1.
3. I am an adult boy of retirement age who in the past was a radio amateur and an electronics developer, and now a programmer and an active home cook. And I could not indifferently walk past this product in the store, at a discount - curiosity strangled the toad, which now I do not regret at all ...
Now let's get down to practical testing of this device. We will cook in the oven a small leg of lamb on the bone, with a total weight of 2 kg, without the shank, with a Medium degree of roasting, i.e. with reddish meat inside. This is a rather difficult preparation, since it is necessary and sufficient to bake the meat inside, with the bone, and at the same time not dry it out, otherwise the meat will turn out to be tough, difficult to chew.
But, first, let's set up the application on a smartphone.
If you are a conspiracy theorist, that is, a supporter of the theory of a world conspiracy of Zionists or Masons, threats to the world special services, and do not disdain other cognitive distortions, then this product is not for you! Because at the very beginning of working with the application, you will be asked to register as a user of the product, indicating your full name, email, password. Without completing this procedure, further progress will not work. On this occasion, on Amazon, some people are indignant: "Why, in order to cook a chicken, should I send you this data?" In general, this is a rhetorical question - this is what the manufacturer wanted. Your registered mailbox will receive (only at your request) notifications about news and brand new products. And from this your registered mail address with the manufacturer, you will send angry letters "Why is this crap of yours not working?", Asking for support or demanding fulfillment of warranty obligations. In addition, the application in an ultimatum order requires opening access to the camera, location, and internal storage of the mobile gadget, as well as the ability to turn on Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Without such consent, your thermometer probe will remain an expensive ear-picking stick, or a stylus for a tablet.
To turn on / activate this probe, you just need to put it in the docking station so that the black ceramic head is in its middle part.
Now we launch the application on the smartphone. It asks for permission to turn on Bluetooth and quickly detects my only probe.
We poke a finger at it, and we find ourselves in the next menu: what are we going to cook in?
Here, from a variety of equipment, we choose an oven and move on to the next stage: what are we going to cook?
Here we choose a lamb, and then we choose: what part will we cook?
Select the leg (Leg), and then select the degree of roast:
Here we choose Medium 60 ° C and we are almost done. It remains to start the control process.
The next window shows that the probe is connected, the battery is charged, the internal temperature of the meat is now 14 ° C, the target temperature is 60 ° C. It remains to click on the green "Start" button.
Now we stick the probe into the meat.
We stick the probe into the thickest part of the meat, not far from the bone, but so as not to hit the bone itself. It is advisable to stick the probe along the entire length of the metal part! Otherwise, this metal part will be heated by the external temperature, and the readings of the meat temperature sensor will turn out to be overestimated, and the dish, when the signal is ready, will not be ready yet!
We close the dish with a ceramic lid, and send it to the oven, warmed up to approximately 170 ° C.
In the application on the smartphone, click on the "Start" button, and observe the temperature.
After six minutes, the app sounds and vibrates desperately: "Your baking is too slow!" The blue arrow at the bottom indicates a lack of temperature. Well, this is really so - first the ceramics should warm up enough, and then the meat will be heated. So here we are all right.
After a few minutes, the ceramics have warmed up enough, the temperature in the meat has shifted, and the app already shows "Good heating".
We go to the warning menu, and set: "Warn me when the temperature reaches 50 ° C"
Here it must be said that the signal from the probe does penetrate both thick ceramics and the walls of the oven.But this signal is reliably caught in such conditions only within a radius of 2 meters from the oven. And you quite rightly ask: "Do I need to sit by the stuffy oven all the time, controlling the temperature, while everyone is walking, drinking cold beer in the fresh air?" I answer: "No, not necessarily!" We put the same application on the second mobile (slave) gadget, and simply connect to the main (master) smartphone via Wi-Fi - the same information will be displayed simultaneously on both devices!
Now, wherever you have normal coverage of your home Wi-Fi, you can observe the state of the cooking process, chat with friends, and have fun with your pets.
However, there is also a fly in the ointment in this barrel of honey. In the current release of the application, any alert or warning messages appear only on the primary host mobile device. On the second slave smartphone / tablet connected via Wi-Fi, nothing will appear! Only duplication of the cooking process. This is a very serious flaw, and it is hoped that the manufacturer will correct this misunderstanding in the application ...
But then the internal temperature in the meat reached 50 ° C, the application notified us of this, - we take out the ceramics from the oven, open the ceramic cap-cap, and leave this leg to rest for half an hour.
During all this time, the temperature inside the meat will first rise to 55 ° C, and at the end of this first rest it will drop to 53 ° C, the temperature will more or less equalize over the entire leg, and you can proceed to the last part of the Marlezon ballet.
While the leg was resting, we warmed up the oven to 200 ° C ... 220 ° C. Now we put the dish in the oven without covering it with the lid and wait until we are notified that the internal temperature has reached 60 ° C and the dish is ready.
Let the leg rest again for 10 ... 20 minutes, under the already suspended cap, take out the probe, and cut the leg in portions - first perpendicular to the bone, and then along the bone.
In general, the task was completed perfectly! The meat was as intended - very juicy and soft, the meat juice remained inside. And under young potatoes, vegetables, and dry wine, this leg of a lamb flew away quickly, and did not have time to cool down ...
While the probe is still warm (but not hot), lightly rinse its metal part under water and wipe it with a cotton cloth or paper towel - and the probe looks like new!
The application contains a history of the use of this core temperature probe. In this story, you can mark successful preparations as favorites, give them a name, and a description of the preparation. And then, at the very beginning of setting up the preparation of a similar dish, you can simply select this favorite item, skipping the steps of setting up the control, and remembering the nuances of the process.
Note 1.
Directly from this application, you can take a photo of the dish - that's why the application needs to allow access to the camera of the mobile gadget. The photos will be in the MastradX1 folder. Also, a small photo will remain in the cooking history, and this recipe can be shared with friends.
Note 2.
In this core temperature probe, the second temperature sensor, as I wrote above, is located in the area of the black ceramic probe head. Unfortunately, the readings of this sensor are not displayed anywhere. It serves two purposes:
1. Including with its help, the application, after some time after the start of cooking, calculates and displays the approximate time until the end of cooking.
2. This sensor will trigger an alarm if the outside temperature is outside the permissible limit of 300 ° C. For example, if a flame burst out under the meat with a probe on the coals.
With the merits of this product, I think everything is clear. Disadvantages of the device:
Declared probe leakage
Non-replaceable battery, non-repairable product
Flaws in the software
Complete absence of Russification - both software application and instructions and FAQ on the product website.
Price
How reliable is this device time will tell. But so far I am happy with this purchase!
Better to see once:
Thermometer meat ° it by Mastrad - Increase the mouthless thermometer with 2 sensors
Gear Review: Meat ° It Wireless Thermometer | Standing Rib Roast | Prime rib
Presentation du Meat ° It de chez Mastrad
TUTO: comment activer le répétiteur wifi de meat ° it?
Competitors
Of course, this wireless thermal probe has competitors, and they are by no means worse, and some are even better, since some models were released later, and they took into account some of the disadvantages of previous models: they are hermetically sealed and allow them to be used also for sous vide, and for deep frying, etc., and also dishwasher safe. And some models transfer their data to the "Cloud", and then you can watch the cooking process anywhere in the world where there is Internet. And almost all competitors claim to have this very, very first wireless core temperature probe in the world.
Californian company TMS produces several types of interesting wireless temperature probes of The MeatStick series (
🔗) and Mini (
🔗)
Apption Labs, headquartered in the UK, produces several interesting Meater series wireless temperature probes, (
🔗)
There are also similar wireless temperature probes of purely Chinese brands, but I did not set myself the goal of a complete overview of such a market.
However, such giants of household appliances as Miele, AEG, Electrolux went farthest.
Some modern Miele ovens also use a cordless thermometer.
This probe "communicates" not with a mobile gadget, but with the electronics of the oven itself. It is enough to select a recipe on the electronic panel of the oven, stick a wireless probe into the meat, and the oven itself will choose the required temperature, convection level, and other cooking parameters. The hostess will only have to wait for the signal to finish cooking ...
And in AEG and Electrolux induction hobs, the cordless core temperature probe has neither battery nor rechargeable battery inside. It receives electricity from the induction field of the hob itself. All ingenious is simple! The surface itself, using the data of the wireless thermal probe, controls the set degree of roasting of meat, or regulates the heating under an ordinary metal pan, in which the sous-vide is cooked, keeping the required water temperature constant.
Thus, it can be summarized that wireless thermometer probes have mostly passed the age of adolescence, and slowly, but confidently enter our life. Yes, while it is still relatively expensive for us, but, in my humble opinion, it is convenient and promising!
