A l-o-o-o-n-g time. If your bird is still rock-solid the day before the feast, you're going to be giving thanks over take-out kung pao chicken instead. You need to allow 24 hours in the fridge for every five pounds of turkey -- that's four whole days for a 20-pounder. If you've waited until the last minute, it's better to buy a fresh one. Defrosting on the counter may be faster, but it's unsafe. By the time the inside has thawed, the outer parts will have spent more than two hours at room temperature, which is long enough for dangerous amounts of bacteria to accumulate and to form toxins that will survive even several hours of cooking.

If you're running out of time and your turkey's still frozen, you can thaw the bird in cold water. First, be sure that the turkey is in a watertight plastic bag. Then cover it completely with cold tap water, and change the water every 30 minutes until you can no longer feel any ice crystals in the flesh. (Allow 30 minutes per pound -- that's only 10 hours for a 20-pound bird.) If your turkey is less than 14 pounds, you can also defrost it in the microwave as long as it goes right into the oven when you're done.

To avoid poisoning yourself and your guests, set your oven to at least 325 degrees F. If you go any lower than that, the meat itself may never get hot enough to kill bacteria. And the longer you leave the bird at a temperature below 325, the more time the bacteria already inside it will have to reproduce. After about 12 hours, the bird may look done, but it will also most likely be infested with hundreds of thousands of nasty microbes ready to ruin your Thanksgiving weekend.

If you don't stuff the turkey, the pop-up indicator will give you a pretty good read on when it's time to eat. However, a regular meat thermometer is most effective; you can stick it in the turkey when you first put it in the oven and keep track of the temperature during cooking so that you'll be less likely to overcook and dry out your bird. Insert the thermometer in the groove between the breast and the thigh and angle it towards the thigh meat. The turkey is fully cooked when it reaches at least 165 degrees F throughout the bird.

If you choose to stuff, you'll definitely need to use a regular meat thermometer. The stuffing needs to reach 165 degrees F so that it won't become a haven for bacteria that may flee from the turkey meat as it cooks. Once the turkey is done, slide the thermometer out of the meat and stick it into the center of the stuffing. If it hasn't reached 165 degrees, continue cooking the bird until it does. Make sure you haven't packed the stuffing in too tightly. The stuffing needs room to expand while it's cooking. If stuffing's packed too tight, you may end up with a low temperature inside the bird that will encourage bacteria to grow.

You only have two hours to get those leftovers into the fridge -- or forget about it. When food sits at room temperature for longer than that, bacteria can accumulate to alarming proportions, and even reheating the food later won't make it safe to eat. Bacteria particularly like to feed on animal protein, so this is especially a problem for meats (like turkey) and desserts made with eggs or dairy products (like pumpkin pie).

Yes, but you'll need to slice all the meat off the bones and store it separately in shallow containers. That way it will cool quickly enough in the fridge so that bacteria will not have a chance to accumulate. Eat the meat within three or four days. If you plan to use the stripped carcass to make soup, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

For more information on safe food preparation at the holidays, visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Seasonal Food Safety web page , or call their Meat and Poultry Hotline at 800-535-4555. It's open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. eastern time year round. On Thanksgiving Day, hotline experts will be available to answer your calls from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Further Resources

United States Department of Agriculture Seasonal Food Safety Page

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Seasonal_Food_Safety_Fact_Sheets/index.asp

USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline: 800/535-4555

References

First published November 3, 1998
Last updated November 15, 2007
Copyright © 1998 Consumer Health Interactive

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