Turkey: cook to 150° or 160°?

[Lost in China]

USDA says 165° but we can disregard this as it's meant to be foolproof advice for the general public.

I read another site somewhere that said 150° was enough, and within 30 seconds the bird would be pasteurized. That sounds good to me. Juicier.

On Meathead's guide to cooking a turkey indoors, it says to take the bird up to 160° before pulling it. But, it does not say where to put the temperature probe! A turkey is a big piece of meat with lots of nooks and crannies. In the deepest part of the breast, in the leg, in the thigh, where exactly?

It also occurs to me that dark meat takes a lot more heat to taste good than white. I take my BBQ chicken thighs to 180° or above and they come out tasting great. Take them off at 160° and they're rubbery.

I submit the following questions:

1. Which temperature?
2. Where to measure it on the turkey?
3. How to simultaneously arrive at all target temperatures on the same bird at the same time in a single oven? Without doing ridiculous things like cutting it up into pieces. Nope, the carving of a whole turkey is a spectacle that is part of the experience.

[jgreen]

I tend to go to the higher temp. My family freaks on me if the meat looks pink. I find usually using an instant read to check several spots is the best rather than a fixed probe. I often find poking around in the joint between thigh and body is where the cooler temps are.

[Cheef]

I freak right along with your family if the meat looks pink. Imm just paranoid with poultry. I tend to actually like the taste and texture of more well done.

[MBMorgan]

White meat 165 deg. F. (for safety)
Dark meat 175 deg. F. (because it's a little slimy at 165).

[Lost in China]

That 165 is for normies who don't know what they're doing. The meat is pasteurized after 30 or so seconds at 150, is what I read.

[MBMorgan]

Lost in China - I'm most definitely not a "normie who doesn't know what I'm doing" ... so you might want to hold off on the name-calling if you expect any further help.

Feel free to cook to any temp you like ... at your own peril, of course.

Or read this: http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-v...ultry_and_Eggs

It's about pasteurization during sous-vide, but the times/temps still apply.

[EdF]

To help get the white and dark meat where they each need to be, don't truss the bird.

[Steve R.]

What MBMorgan said. Also, spatchcock that bird and cook it @325+. I do this and it never comes out dry.

[Lost in China]

Spatchcock in an indoor oven?

[EdF]

Sure, I do it pretty often, for both chicken and turkey. Just helps getting the temps right.

[Steve R.]

The principle is the same, outdoor or indoor. I always cook mine outdoors, though.

[jecucolo]

One on the things that Meathead recommends is not trussing the legs. Let the flap free. This allows the heat to cook all around the legs which will get the legs to 175 when the breast reaches 160-165. Always works for me.

[RonB]

Legs, thighs, and wings are much less bulky than the breast on modern turkeys, so they will cook faster than big breasts if not trussed. I cook until the breasts are my desired temp and pull at that time. I've never had a complaint on dark meat. BTW - I cook poultry breasts to 158*. The time to safe at that temp is ~ 8 sec, and the breasts are always juicy. I have considered pulling at a slightly lower temp, but I don't feel that is necessary.

[JGo37]

Starting with EdF and the 'don't truss' everyone + is right. The way the bird is built, the dark tends to be done when the white is.

That said, there's a faction out there that cooks the dark and white separate, 'butcher' separating the bird into discreet pieces to cook each type of piece specifically to spec. I don't. It ain't fun, and it ain't got no visual 'Aahhh'.

I don't know why you want to go 'enough'. That leaves a few of the squeamish eaters wondering if they'll have explosive d....

I pull the bird ~ 160F just plus, platter it, and wrap in heavy duty foil and let it sit. Some residual cook takes place, as well as juice redistribution. I leave it that way at LEAST 20 minutes because there's always at least that much time of stuff going on with sides, plates, drinks, chillin' cranberries, etc. If you're worried about cool down, pull a towel out of the dryer after 5 mins of heat and drape it on top.

It'll come out great if you wrap it down at 160F. To serve HOT, just cover with very hot gravy (home made for cripes sake).

What happens before - brining, injecting, buttering, basting, oiling, stuffing - well that's another topic for each action.

I do like a bit of cajun butter injection in the thighs, wing drums and legs of a really big bird, with foil on the wingettes when they've started to crisp.

[scottranda]

I cook to 160 because pasteurization at high temps (325+) needed for poultry is hard to do at 150 or lower. You can cook to 150, but watch the pasturization tables!

My advice is 160 and don’t even think about it.

[Polarbear777]

165F for 5 seconds is similar to 150F for 5 minutes (I.e both pasteurized.).

30 seconds at 150F will not be pasteurized!

"My rule" is poultry goes to 150F internal in the breast then I set a timer for 5 minutes (which can include taking it out and into the house, since there is carryover on something that thick). I generally don’t hit 160+.

Usually 150 in the breast ends up around 175 in the thinner thighs/legs/wings.

http://www.cookingissues.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/bacteria_time_temperature2.jpg

[Jerod Broussard]

I'm a 160-165 kinda guy. Never played with the "tables" while smoking. People constantly rave about the juiciness of my turkey anyway.

[Polarbear777]

Btw, the pre-installed pop-up thermo is around 175-180F in the breast. No wonder growing up why we didn’t like the turkey.

[Jerod Broussard]

I often see those at work, all in bag waiting to be taken downstairs to the Whole Bird Line, and wonder if anyone other than me has thought about doing the world a favor and tossing them darn things.

[Steve R.]

Yeah, I yank those things out first thing out of the bag. Ha! I'd rather have no information than bad information.

[jfmorris]

I Pull at 160F in the breast, and let the thighs and legs ride, ending up around 175 or so. And you are wrong on the pasteurization time at 150. I’ve looked at several tables and it’s a lot longer than a few seconds. More like 13 minutes for a thin 5mm piece of turkey at 150. And no one wants red bloody looking turkey meat. Go white or go home... 160 pull temp will still be plenty moist.

[Polarbear777]

I get 5 minutes looking at all the charts I can find not 13.

I get 13 minutes at 145F.

Or look at the charts and link here. :

https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast.html

[jfmorris]

Polarbear777 I was not looking at the right chart - I was looking at one that was for sous-vide for different thicknesses of meat, and accounted for time to get through the meat on top of the pasteurization. 5 minutes is the right number at 150F.

[Polarbear777]

Both are important to know. I don’t know how anyone cooked before thermapens. (Actually I do know chicken used to taste like cardboard)

[rwalters]

I used to cook whole turkeys... never satisfied.
Started spatchcocking and better but not quite right.
I now break turkeys down into their parts. Much happier with results. Each piece comes off at the exact internal temp that I am after. Don’t really care if it’s not traditional...lol.

[Troutman]

Color on that bird is spectacular...nice work !

[EdF]

I like spatchcocking them too. And parts would be fine in my book. But then there are the spousal constraints for holiday meals, and they call for Norman Rockwell style.

[Meathead]

The complicated answer is that it is BOTH temp and time and I explain it in detail here: https://amazingribs.com/more-techniq...g-temperatures

But a good short answer is 160F for white meat is safe and will not be too dry. Dark meat is best, to me, at 165-170.