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I know we're all in deep prep mode for this week's eating holiday, but it's worth thinking about the holiday feasts to come. Right now, you can buy a reliable TempSpike smart meat thermometer at a great Black Friday discount. It probably won't arrive before Thanksgiving, but it will serve you well throughout the rest of the winter holidays and beyond.

A major failure point of cooking a bird as large as a turkey is not heating it to the temperature. You can't rely on that absurd popup thermometer that comes with the bird you just paid $30 to $50 dollars for. Your entire holiday meal is relying on it, so use a real thermometer.

Wireless thermometers have improved over the last few years, and though I have tested a few I liked, I love the TempSpike, and have used it repeatedly over the last few months—on the grill, in my sous vide, in the oven, and on the stovetop. I appreciate how simple it is: This model comes with two easily identifiable probes, one black and one white. It pairs easily with the accompanying app, which allows you to see the current temperature as well as the target temp, and set alerts to notify you when they merge.

I suggest using the black probe for the breast and the white for the thigh or the stuffing, so you have an overall picture of when to pull the bird out of the oven (for the record, that's at 155ªF for the breast, 165ªF for the thighs, and 155ªF for the stuffing, as all will rise another 10 degrees once you pull the bird out and allow it to rest.)

After the holidays are over, you'll be able to use the probes everywhere you cook. Since they're wireless, you can pop them into sous vide bags. They're fantastic on the grill, offering handsfree monitoring. They work in toaster ovens, on the stove top, and anyplace else you need a read on the temperature and don't want to stand around watching the meal cook.

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