Ken > wrote:

> I was at a friend's house and was helping in the kitchen. We were
> making a roast for dinner, but they didn't have a meat thermometer,
> only a candy thermometer. Can a candy thermometer be used in a roast/
> other meat cuts?

If the "candy" thermometer has calibrated marks low enough, sure.
"Meat" themometers generally top out around 250F. "Candy" thermometers
top out in the 450F to 550F range, assuming a bulb or dial type.
The only problem might be in getting very precise readings because
the larger range means the scale is relatively compressed.
Electronic types generally have a limit around 400F but that is
mostly a limit of the probe.

I ran into this situation in the opposite direction over the weekend
when I was doing some deep frying and my wife kept finding meat
themometers which had a top temperature 100 degrees too low. The
candy thermometers worked fine.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.