Quick note on the Thermapen. Try your ice bath again, but this time follow the following five step procedure (it takes some care to get a proper ice bath):
1. Fill a glass to the absolute rim with ice
2. Here’s the tricky part: add just enough water to fill in the cracks between the chunks of ice (if you see any ice floating off the bottom of the glass, proceed to step 3)!
3. Put your hand over the top of the glass and pour out any excess water (your hand might get just bit chilly but its for a good cause)
4. Let the ice/water mixture sit for about 30 seconds
5. Insert your Thermapen about two inches into the ice/water mixture and gently STIR it around (Don’t forget to STIR to get an accurate reading).

Then write back and tell if you don’t get to within 0.7°F of 32° in just a couple seconds. (Who knew making ice water could be so tricky, right??)

Also, the Thermapen gives accurate readings in more than just meat. In fact that only thing it takes a little longer to get a read on is ambient air temperature since the probe is not inserted into anything.

And when you see minute changes in the Thermapen reading, keep in mind that that is the actual temperature of something CHANGING or you moving the probe and getting different information.

Happy desert running!!