Turkey question

egghead2004 · October 2004

I've always thought that turkey and chicken should be cooked to 180*. I've seen several posts this week where people remove the turkey when the breast meat reaches 160 or 168.
Isn't that a bit unsafe?

thirdeye · October 2004

egghead2004,
From a juiciness and tenderness point of view I use 155° max for white meat chicken and 175° max for dark meat chicken. Even with the beer can method, I would sometimes have white meat that was dry. A post for beer can chicken chicken on another forum called for slicing both ends off of a lemon (making little cups), remove the pulp and fill the cups with seasoned & chilled garlic or herb butter. Then slide the cups under the skin of the breast area. (Now the bird has little boobs). The melting butter during the cook keeps the breasts moist while giving the dark meat time to get up to temp. This works great and the presentation is always good for a laugh.

trout16 · October 2004

thirdeye,
The only thing I like well done is poultry. Just did a turkey on Sunday and it turned out fabulous! 180 for me!
[ul][li]Perfect Golden Brown Turkey!!!!!![/ul]

Unknown · October 2004

egghead2004,
I just cooked my first turkey breast on the BGE last Saturday. I used a recipe from this forum and cooked to 160. Both my husband and I agreed that is was not quite done in the middle. I put it in the oven to finish and later read that it should have been 180. I made myself a note to use the 180 next time. No underdone poultry for me.

tn slagamater · October 2004

egghead2004,poultry breast meat is done at 155 to 160 degrees. Above 165 it begins to dry out pretty rapidly as the temperature in the meat rises.Most people do not want dry breast meat...moisture content is our great advantage with the egg. However, the dark meat(drumstick) in poultry needs to reach 180. Even dark meat at a done stage can retain a pink color due to the calcium. It is safe, regardless of pink color, if the temperature minimum is reached.The goal is to achieve 160 breast and 180 drumstick temperature at the same time.To do this : Put the legs facing toward the rear (hotter) part of the Egg...and/or.... ice down the breast just before inserting the bird....and/or... wrap the wings/drumstick in aluminum foil when they get near 180 if the breast needs more time to cook. Using a temp guage to check meat temperature insures safe food and gives you the best moisture content.It is good to wrap and rest the bird before slicing, of course.HTH

pointer · October 2004

egghead2004,
I cook my Turkey breast till 160, then remove from the BGE and cover with foil for 15 minutes. This allows the breast to come up in temperature and more of the juices will stay in the meat when sliceing.

Luvmyegg · October 2004

egghead2004,
I just tried a turkey in the oven and it was perfect. I'm sure it would work on the egg too. Prepare turkey (brine or season), rub some oil over the whole turkey. I truss the turkey up too. Make a cap of doubled heavy duty foil to fit over the breast and tuck between breast and legs. Take the cap off the put aside. Preheat egg to 500 degrees, roast for 30 min. Take the turkey out and reduce heat to 350 degrees. Put a thermometer in the breast, place foil cap on top and roast until the breast temp. reaches 161. Another trick I learned on this forum is to take a baggy filled with ice and put it over the breast for 30 min before roasting. This way the breast meat is colder and will cook more slowly allowing the leg temp to reach 180 without overcooking the breast meat.

fishlessman · October 2004

tn slagamater,i wonder why the meat is pinker on a bird done in the egg verse the oven. just an observation as i always do 2 birds. one other trick that helps the bottom cook better is to heat some broth and add itt to the cavity at the beginning of the cook. since ive been pointing the legs toward the hot spott, the birds have definatly improved

tn slagamater · October 2004

fishlessman, that is a good question.It may have something to do with the higher moisture content of the Egged bird. Maybe someone else will know? I do not use the oven so I had not observed this difference...

Turkey question

Comments

Categories