MAD MAX THURSDAY TURKEY TIP - ICE THAT BREAST!!

mad max beyond eggdome · October 2006

no, not you ladies. ...geeez. . . .[p]and before the spawn can get on line and say how lame i am. ..here is your weekly tip . . [p]ok, so here is the challenge. .. to put ONE entire turkey into ONE egg at ONE temperature and pull it out at ONE time, but have TWO completely different temperatures in different parts of the bird for perfect doneness (180 in the thighs and 160 in the breasts). ... over the years i've tried different approaches, paper bags, roasting the bird breast side down (ever tried turning over a hot 24 pound turkey halfway through a cook, no fun), basting through an old terry clothe towell laid over the breasts, etc. ... but about 12 years ago, i was turned on to the following method, and its easy peasy. ..[p]take a one gallon zip lock baggie. ...fill it full of ice cubes. ..20 minutes before you are ready to put the bird in the oven or in the egg (and after it is otherwise prepped and ready to go with the exception of the final butter and wine application).. .take the bag of ice and lay it over the turkey breasts for the 20 full minutes. .. .after the 20 minutes is up, remove the bag, apply your butter paste and wine, and stick the bird in the egg (or oven). .. .what this has done is sufficiently cooled down the breast meat, compared to the thigh meat, in such a way, that it will take the roasting period for the breasts to catch up to the thighs and both be properly done at the same time. .. . again, i've been using this technique for 12 years now with unqualified success. ..if you do nothing else from the mad max turkey methodology, give this one a try. ...[p]and as always, here is the link to the full story. ...[p]mad "getting closer by the week" max
[ul][li]http://www.nakedwhiz.com/madmaxturkey.htm[/ul]

fonchik · October 2006

mad max beyond eggdome,
Hey Max this is the same tip as last week. So should we now double the time that the ice is on the turkey being we have seen this tip twice?[p]-- Fonchik

Haggis · October 2006

mad max beyond eggdome,[p]BTW, Max, I think Cooks Illustrated mentions this technique in the latest issue.

Rich · October 2006

mad max beyond eggdome,
There is an article in Nov/Dec Cooks magazine that supports your idea of icing the breasts. They recommend turning the bird breast side down and laying the bird on bags of ice and also placing bags of ice inside the large cavity and neck area.
Rich

mad max beyond eggdome · October 2006

geez, thanks for pointing out that this was a repeat. .. ok, new tip for the day. .. . basting that bird. .. .[p]so, after the first couple of hours, you want to start basting your turkey. ..and you want to do it regularly and often. ...get yourself one of those bulb basters (looks like a giant eyedropper). . ..between all that butter and wine that you put on your bird, along with the natural juices that have started to flow, you should have plenty to baste with. .. .draw up the juices both from the pan, and from inside the turkey cavity and baste it generously over the entire bird. . ..the butter will help the skin crisp up as well. ...i usually baste every 20 minutes or so after the first 1 or 2 hours. .. .and even if the skin is browning earlier than expected, and you tent the bird to keep it from browning. . ..keep on basting. .. right up till you pull it. .. .also, if you feel like you aren't getting enough basting juices, you can always add some more wine, and/or some turkey broth from your pot (remember turkey tip one from 2 weeks ago) to your roasting pan. ..[p]mad "gotta keep the tips straight" max

Unknown · October 2006

ok, this is the correct tip for this week. ...

thirdeye · October 2006

mad max beyond eggdome,[p]The ice is definitely a good tip.[p]Harold McGee, the food science guy, also advises the ice packs on the breast. He claims that you are looking for a 20° difference in temp between the breast and the dark meat when starting the cook. In theory, I'm good so far, but this actually takes an hour or longer to happen. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable having 'ol Tom sit out that length of time.[p]A couple of years ago, another theory started making the rounds: Ice the breast for 45 minutes. Chill your roasting pan, (the heavier the better). Start the bird breast side down, sitting on a bed of frozen carrots. Flip the bird breast side up about an hour later.[p]Food science at work. LOL[p]~thirdeye~[p]

mad max beyond eggdome · October 2006

thirdeye,
haven't poisoned anybody yet :0). . .and remember, unless you've poked a bunch of holes in the bird, its the surface temps that really count, and they get hot pretty quick .. .particularly when roasting at 300+ degrees. ..

thirdeye · October 2006

mad max beyond eggdome,[p]Oh, I wasn't headed there. I think your 20 minute time is plenty safe. Harold's theory took way longer than an hour to get the 20° difference, which still may be safe...It's just approaching the borderline for me. [p]~thirdeye~

mad max beyond eggdome · October 2006

thirdeye,
oh, gotcha.. . i'm going home. . .as you can see from above, i'm already headed outa control....probably safer for me to be on the road at this point than at a keyboard .heee

stike · October 2006

thirdeye,
add some salt to the ice bag and it'll lower the melting point. it'll suck that much more heat from the breast that much faster...[p]ice cream making trick

MAD MAX THURSDAY TURKEY TIP - ICE THAT BREAST!!

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