Turkey: cook to 150° or 160°?

[Troutman]

I just wanted to add one thing, since before the invention of dirt (or my age) I listened to Jacque Pepin and trussed my birds. His logic was a more uniform shape in the oven produced more uniform cooking. I never seemed to have issues using that method and still do on my rotisserie chickens (more because I don't want it flopping around). Since learning to spatchcock, I've found the benefits of faster cooking and more imparted flavor so trussing is now done away with. That doesn't mean trussing doesn't work, it just doesn't have the flavor imparted to the opened bird cavity.

And for the record, yes 160* in the white meat (breast) and 170-175* in the deepest part of the dark meat has worked well for me. But maybe I'm just a "normie".

[ddmcwhirter]

I'm sold on spatchcocking...still makes a beautiful bird and easier to carve...and I carve across the grain of the breast. The Thermoworks site has some great recipes from their test kitchen: spatchcock turkey the best, and, pre-searing your nearly frozen rib roast so there is no gray layer.

[JGo37]

If anyone would like to take a dry run, but you don't want to make two turkeys two weeks apart, I recommend a Capon.

Plain ole chicken:

[EdF]

It's a good idea!

[JGo37]

EdF I like capons - different taste. There's always one available here. Bigger bird too.

[Polarbear777]

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.[/LIST]

If anyone doesn’t read the whole thread or you missed it, the most important point here is that 30 seconds Is not near enough time to pasteurize at 150F. You need 5 minutes once 150 has been reached. (Links to charts are in this thread.)

[fzxdoc]

Read this article for more info, Lost in China . In it Kenji Lopez Alt says he takes his turkey breast to 150 for 4 minutes and the legs to 170. He also spatchcocks his turkeys. The article also has suggestions from other food experts that may interest you.

Just make sure that the breast is at least 150° (or whatever end temp you choose) throughout for the safe time allotment. I find that closer to the bone, especially the shoulder joint, that's not always the case--it's cooler.

As MBMorgan says, it's your turkey, so you can do with it what you want. But samonella is serious stuff, so erring on the side of food safety makes sense.

Good luck with your turkey cook!

Kathryn

[fzxdoc]

And P.S. Thank you, Polarbear777 , for the link to this graph. I printed it out and put a copy on my extra fridge. In this case, a graph is worth 1,000 words.

[Polarbear777]

There’s a much better one in kenji’s book the food lab. This one doesn’t have much resolution for shorter times.

[fzxdoc]

Oh! I have that book. I'll take a look. Thanks, Polarbear777. I always appreciate your well-informed posts.

Kathryn