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There is no reason for dry turkey. It is all about cooking temperature, especially with the white meat. You really want to make sure the white meat never gets
by mohaine 5y ago
There is no reason for dry turkey. It is all about cooking temperature, especially with the white meat.
You really want to make sure the white meat never gets above 145 F ish. The easiest way to do this is with sous vide but you can it other ways if you follow the process correctly. With sous vide it is basically impossible to mess up.
My Process:
1) Carve raw turkey in to major pieces like you would a chicken.
2) Place white breast meat in one plastic bag. Dark in a second bag
3) Add some salt/pepper or other spices to bag, along with some butter or fat/oil.
4) Remove air from bags as best you can
5) Sous vide at 145 F for 3 hours
6) Remove white meat bag from water, Raise temp to 165 for 2 more hours
7) At this point meat it done and can be refrigerated for a day or two.
8) Remove meat from bag, put in large dish under broiler until skin is crisp.
I've been following this process for years and it just works.
- canadian_tired 5y agoYES! Agreed!
- jm547ster 5y agoIf you want this same process to work with all the meat being ready at once, flip the temps around: Cook dark meat at 165 for 3 hours -> drop temp to 145 F (ice to hurry it) Drop in your white meat for 2 hours - remove all and crisp
- n8cpdx 5y agoProbably produces great meat, but does directly contradict USDA guidelines. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/poultry/lets-talk-turkey-roasting https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and... At least in chicken, multi-drug resistant salmonella is still a problem that kills people in the US. The government’s approach to food safety assumes you will follow the guidelines and cook to 165 while religiously following anti-cross-contamination measures, rather than actually pursuing food safety. Maybe turkey is the exception, but I have my doubts. https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2021/10/americas-food-safety-system-failed-stop-salmonella-epidemic-its-still-making-people-sick/186481/ https://www.govexec.com/oversight/2021/10/americas-food-safe...
- Spinnaker_ 5y agoFood safety is about temperature and time. Not just temperature. When you see a temperature like 165 it means that the moment the meat hits that temperature it is safe. You can lower the max temperature as long as you increase the time the meat is held there. Chicken at 136 degrees for 70 minutes is just as safe as momentarily reaching 165 degrees. A nice overview: https://blog.thermoworks.com/chicken/thermal-tips-simple-roasted-chicken/ https://blog.thermoworks.com/chicken/thermal-tips-simple-roa...
- datavirtue 5y agoYep, all about the heat work.
- mcot2 5y agoCorrect, was just going to post this. This is why sous vide is so fantastic.
- OJFord 5y agoThat's not entirely generalisable though, e.g. not in the limit 'room temperature forever'; there is also a temperature you just plain have to get to (depending what you're trying to kill) no matter how long you hold it.
- zamfi 5y agoYes but this is perhaps overly pedantic. No one would legitimately try to cook a chicken by keeping it at room temperature forever, you still want cooked meat — it’s just that 165 overcooks it. For breast meat, you typically want 150, and you can hold it there for enough to kill salmonella.
- OJFord 5y agoYes I'm only taking it to the limit of zero heating and infinite time to make the point obvious, but what's room temperature (I don't know Fahrenheit) 90F or something - call it that, point is that just the act of heating it at all, doesn't magically kill (e.g.) salmonella. Wikipedia lists 131F for 90min as being sufficient - that doesn't necessarily mean it's possible at all at 120F, however long you leave it.
- obiwan14 5y agoIf you have to do all that to not get turkey meat that's dry, then one has to assume that turkey meat, cooked like you would cook any other meat, like chicken, is dry, as has been my experience. To sum, turkey meat is dry. Don't want dry turkey meat, follow these steps...
- saryant 5y agoI’ve done a version of this the last few years. 1) Break bird into parts. Thighs, breasts, tenderloins and “everything else” each into their own bag. 2) Butterfly the breasts and lay them over the skin. Rub with salt, butter and whatever herbs you like. Roll breasts and skin up into a roulade. Refrigerate for 2 days. 3) Sous vide breast roulade at 140 for 4-5 hours then deep fry. 4) Separately, braise the legs/thighs in red wine and mirepoix. 5) Use the bones/gizzards to make gravy. 6) Toss the tenderloins in the freezer for another day. Ideas courtesy of Serious Eats. Works very well but does require a lot of upfront work. The results are worth it though.
- BenoitEssiambre 5y agoNote that 145 will make dark meat taste kinda raw so don't try this temperature on a whole bird. 155 to 160 can be kindof a trade-off if you want to do the whole bird. Government guidelines are 165 minimum but when going over 160, white meat starts to get noticeably dry. Still, if you really want to follow government guidelines, sous vide to 165 and not one degree more is not that bad compared to oven until center is 165 which puts outer meat at like 180 or more and clearly overcooked.
- __mharrison__ 5y agoI did 145 for white (5 hours) and dark (overnight). I didn't think it was undercooked at all. I just wish the birds had more dark meat and less white.
- gcheong 5y agoGenerally speaking a heritage or wild turkey will tend to have more dark meat in proportion to breast meat than your typical store-bought bird.
- bpicolo 5y agoThe 165 guideline is for instantaneous heat. With sous-vide, you pasteurize to the same degree with lower heat for a longer time.
- gwbas1c 5y agoFYI: My meat thermometer got right up to 170 when I took the turkey out. It was perfect.