A thermal simulator simulates the thermal behavior of items such as eggs for which the actual internal temperature profile is difficult to measure. A yolk body simulates the egg yolk, an albumen body surrounds the yolk body and simulates the egg albumen, and a shell layer surrounds the albumen body to simulate the shell. The thermal properties of the materials forming the egg body, albumen body and shell layer are tuned to match the thermal properties of the egg yolk, egg albumen and egg shell. Thermometric devices are positioned within the egg body and egg albumen along with communication devices which process signals from the thermometric devices indicative of temperature and communicate these signals to a computer for further processing and display.