Do turkey legs stall?

[rmeugene]

I put a couple 2lb legs on the smoker at 225 at 2:30 this afternoon. They got up to 155ish around 6:30 and now are sitting in the low 150’s. I was preparing to take them off and eat when they started dropping instead of rising to the 160-165 temp I was looking for. I am confused...

[Dewesq55]

The stall is caused by evaporative cooling. Anything that has moisture in it can stall, including turkey legs.

[FireMan]

An hear I was picturin a turkey walkin down the lane & all of a sudden he puts the brakes on, calls fer help, cuz he can’t move. Shake a leg I say, shake a leg. 🕶

[ComfortablyNumb]

I was going to answer "Yes, and when they do the turkey falls over." But you beat me to the smart ass answer....

[Jfrosty27]

Yup. That same thing happened to me. As said above, the stall can happen on any cut of any meat. Just power through to the temp desired:required. Gotta hang in there.

[FireMan]

I have a question: Did the turkey fall right over or shake a leg?

[Dadof3Illinois]

I just cooked half a doz turkey legs yesterday. I cooked at a higher temp (300F) but they were done in 75 mins. I'm not sure I've ever had poultry stall but I'm usually cooking it at higher temps so I bet I'm just powering through it? Is your thermometer reading correct?

[rmeugene]

Definitely reading correctly...using the probes on the RT-700 but checked with the ThermaPen.

[jdsmith]

Is there any reason to power through a stall with turkey? The safe cooking temp guide for poultry

https://www.aamp.com/documents/Time-TemperatureTablesforPoultry.pdf

attachment 2 lists times that the meat needs to be at various temperatures to kill Salmonella. I've had success holding turkey at 140 degrees for an hour or so. According to the chart if you're at 150 deg for 4 minutes or more you're safe.

[Dewesq55]

I'd say the answer is texture. I'm not convinced today turkey leg meat would be tender and pleasantly firm at 150°F, let alone 140°.

[FireMan]

What about tomorrow?

[Dewesq55]

FireMan - Nope, nor the next day.

[rmeugene]

The smaller of the two legs reached 160 around 9:15(almost 7 hours). The other took another hour. The skin was chewy on the one I tried last night and the meat was very good. It was by no means tender/fall off the bone. Today I warmed up the smaller one in the oven covered in a dish with a bit of water at 350 for about 45 minutes. Still tasted great.

I was doing this as an experiment for a friend that requested one as he enjoys them. I told him I am learning. He said whe he gets them at Disney or fairs that the meat pretty much falls off the bone and the tendons have rendered. These were NOT like that.

[FireMan]

Mista been one weird lookin turkey with differnt sized legs, yessir.

[barelfly]

The time i have made turkey legs, I’ve brineD them in a butter milk solution that gives them that hammy type taste, similar to the Disney legs and some fair legs. You can google search Disney turkey legs and read a bit more on it, but if you cant find anything let me know and I can post something here on it.

but I don’t recall them taking 7 hours. That is quite a cook.

[DavidNorcross]

I always cook poultry hotter. At least 300. I have not experienced a stall.