[Photograph: Williams-Sonoma] Apparently I was late on the bandwagon by only recently finding out that there was such a thing as a digital candy thermometer. Frankly, it was a while before I realized there was need in my life for a candy thermometer at all. It all started with a recipe in the December 2007 issue of Gourmet for Toasted-Coconut Marshmallow Squares. One enormous batch of 100+ marshmallows later, I was hooked. As it turns out, though, candy thermometers come quite in handy—DIY candy-making is now my favorite gift-buying alternative, and frying gets a lot easier when you can figure out exactly how hot your oil is versus how hot it should be. Whether they need to be spiffy digital... More

I admit it. I am, in regard to most aspects of life, a luddite. Give me a turntable, an Atari (or, on my better days, a Nintendo), and a TV with UHF and VHF options (no remote, of course), and I'm pleased as punch. Get me in the kitchen, however, and I become more neutral. While I admire the simplicity of cooking with little more than knife and fire, I can't deny an appreciation for microwaves and food processors. And this technological ambivalence extends to thermometry. While there's a curmudgeonly aspect of my personality that would like to tell you that analog meat probes and glass chocolate thermometers are unequivocally the best tools for their respective jobs, the truth is,... More