Digital Thermometers - A Must-Have When Learning to Work With Chocolate
Sure you could learn to temper chocolate without a thermometer by doing the lip test (kinda gross) or the back of your hand test (still gross), but it isn't always accurate when you are learning. What I've learned is to just jump to a digital thermometer to get an accurate reading every time and ensure your chocolate really is in temper. So here is a little advice on choosing a thermometer for tempering chocolate: http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.ca/2015/03/digital-thermometers-must-have-when.html .
couldn't agree more, my digital thermometer has meant decent tempering everytime. I tend to never rely on readings from tempering machines or even my chocolate melters, though these are only out by a degree or so. I have also witnessed many chefs in kitchens using the 'lip test' for tempering, and i too thought that was gross, especially as they are tasting many different sauces and foods throughout the day. I read the article you posted up about thermometers which was really interesting, do you find the non-contact thermometers work as well as probe ones? as i have tried a non-contact one, but it was giving different reading to that of my probe one, so i realised that probably the non-contact thermometer was only giving a reading of the surface temperature instead of the core temp. I recommend the Thermapen, accurate reading in less than 3 seconds!