More than the taste, you have to target safety whenever you intend to serve turkey. These huge birds take quite some time to cook, and we all know that poultry cannot be served “medium rare,” like beef.
For fresh turkeys, buy them a day or at most, two days before you are to cook them. Keep the fresh turkey in the refrigerator, with a pan to catch any juices, until just before preparing it. Don’t buy fresh turkey that’s already stuffed. When the bird is kept at temperatures above freezing, bacterial growth can rapidly set in.
Frozen turkeys, on the other hand, should be kept in the freezer until they’re about to be prepared. They can last a long time but should preferably be cooked within a few months. Like the fresh variety, you should allow 1 pound of meat per person. This rule of thumb should be kept in mind so you won’t have to worry about what to do with leftovers after Thanksgiving or the Christmas season.
It’s safe to buy pre-stuffed frozen turkeys only when you see a USDA seal on the packaging. This means that these have been processed under conditions that are approved by the United States Department of Agriculture. Estimate 1 ¼ pounds of pre-stuffed frozen turkey per person.
Thawing the turkey
You can use any of the three methods for thawing your frozen turkey. You can submerge it in cold water, defrost it in the microwave, or thaw it in the refrigerator.
When thawing in cold water, make sure that no water can seep through the packaging. If the wrapping from the grocer has been damaged, take a new plastic bag and wrap the bird securely. It will take a good 30 minutes for each pound of turkey to thaw. Submerge the whole turkey, and change the water every 30 minutes. Leaving it this way too long may cause the growth of harmful bacteria. Once you’ve thawed it, you mustn’t re-freeze it. Cook as soon as it has thawed.
When thawing using a microwave oven, make sure that the turkey fits with extra space all around. You need to check the machine’s manual to compute for the power level and the duration.
Remove all the outside wrapping from the turkey. In most cases, there will be a bag of turkey giblets inside the cavity, but this can be removed after thawing. Place the turkey on a dish that’s large enough to catch the juices while thawing. Again, you mustn’t re-freeze nor refrigerate the turkey once you’ve thawed it.
To thaw by keeping the turkey in the refrigerator, allow 24 hours for every 4-5 pounds of meat. Thus, a 12-pound turkey may take up to 3 days to thaw in the refrigerator. Keep the temperature at below 40 °F for best results. With its original wrapping on, place it on a pan or a tray so any leaking juices won’t mess up your refrigerator. If needed, you can re-freeze a turkey that has been thawed in the ref, but it goes without saying that the quality in taste would minimally be altered.
Leave its original wrapper on, and use a large enough a tray to catch any dripping juices. When it’s ready to cook – that is, after it has properly thawed and you have seasoned the bird in and out, don’t cook the stuffing as it’s inside the turkey. There’s a danger of the stuffing being undercooked. Instead, cook it in the same oven but in a different pan, and make sure that it reaches a safe internal temperature of at least 165 °F.
