Thanksgiving…a time when many families sit down to feasts of roast turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. Here are a few precautions to help make sure your Thanksgiving feast is remembered as a gastronomic delight – not a gastrointestinal disaster!

 

Storing

• Loosely cover your fresh, unfrozen turkey with wax paper or aluminum foil and store in the coldest part of the refrigerator.

• Fresh turkey should be cooked within two or three days of purchase; frozen birds can be kept in the freezer for up to six months.

 

Thawing and Preparation

• Thaw frozen turkeys in the refrigerator or in cold water, with the plastic wrap kept on. This virtually elimi­nates the possibility of nasty bacteria from accumulating.

• Make sure you cook it long enough. Cooking timetables for turkeys will tell you how long to cook your bird, based on weight. Test the turkey with a meat thermometer inserted into the mid­dle of the stuffing or into the thigh without touching the bone. The thermometer must register 85°C (185°F) for the turkey to be cooked. No meat thermometer? Test for doneness by moving the drumstick up and down. It should move easily in the joint if it’s cooked.

• Never partially cook a turkey one day and continue cooking it the next day. This is one of the major causes of food poisoning, as bacteria can quickly multiply.

• Never pre-stuff a turkey the day before it is roasted. It takes too long to heat the centre of the chilled dressing in order to ensure that any bac­teria are destroyed, and it may result in over-cooking the meat.

• Because of the increased risk of food poisoning asso­ciated with stuffed turkeys, many people choose to cook the stuffing separately. However, if you like to cook your turkey stuffed, make sure to stuff it just before you put it in the oven and remove all of the stuffing as soon as the turkey is fully cooked.

• Never leave a cooked turkey on the kitchen table or counter after carving. It should be placed either in the oven to keep it hot or in the refrigerator Cooked turkey can be refrigerated for three or four days or frozen for up to four months.

 

Basic rules of food handling

• Keep hands, utensils and work areas clean and avoid transfer of bacteria from one food to another.

• Thoroughly clean all surfaces that come in contact with raw meat or poultry to prevent the contamination of cooked or other ready-to-eat foods.

• Cool leftover foods quickly to reduce the risk of bacterial growth.

 

Campbell River Mirror