Is 150 Safe for your Turkey

The 165 guideline is to kill salmonella in Poultry. I know commercially raised chickens are more prone to having salmonella due to the farming conditions, but I have never heard of a single case of salmonella coming from consumption of a wild Duck or Turkey.

I don't like the texture of underdone poultry, but I also don't cook all the way to 165 on a Turkey....

Thanks for the post. What is the roll of carry over when picking a temp to pull the turkey from the cooker? I have heard that it should be pulled at between 150 - 160 so that the final resting temp of the bird is 165.

Carry over is usually of function of temp/duration. The hotter and longer you cook, the higher the carry over will be.

I find it's no more than 5 degrees or so when I do mine around 275.

First , about one comment, is Trichinosis is gone at 137*.

The other is that the 1920 s is the last case,outside wild game.

The pull temp depends on your cook temp,and what place you are checking.

quote:

Originally posted by Tom:
First , about one comment, is Salmonella is gone at 137*.

The other is that the 1920 s is the last case,outside wild game.

The pull temp depends on your cook temp,and what place you are checking.

According to FDA/USDA guidelines Salmonella is killed after ten minutes at 167, thirty minutes at 140, or 131 degrees for an hour so do the math - How long does your Turkey plateau at the above temps? Your chances of Salmonella while smoking at low temps for long times are VERY small.

Most people have more risk from cross contamination in their home kitchen by not properly handling raw poultry, e.g. washing sinks, knives, cutting boards, etc. after opening the raw bird.

The short answer to the question "Is 150 Safe for your Turkey" is yes. It's also safe at somewhat lower temperatures, depending on several factors.

The USDA's 1999 Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) Final Rules (amended 03/05) issued guidelines and time-temperature tables for cooking ready to eat poultry. Separate tables were prepared based upon the percentage of fat in the poultry, ranging from 0% to 12%.

At an average of 6% fat, turkey is considered safe as follows:

145F - 11 minutes
150F - 3.8 minutes
155F - 1.2 minutes
160F - 26.2 seconds

Click here for a complete listing of the tables.

Safety aside, you then have the issue of taste. Most professionals consider 145F as the perfect temperature for the breast. Anything above that, it starts drying out, brined or not. On the flip side, 165F is considered perfect for thighs. Below that temp, even though it's safe, it's stringy and chewy. General guidelines usually recommend cooking the turkey to an internal temp of 165F to 170F in the thigh, then resting the bird for 30 minutes or so as the temp continues to rise a bit. I assume that those guidelines were written by those who prefer the dark meat because at that point, the breast is shot.

The bottom line conclusion I came to a few years ago is that it is essentially impossible to achieve anything near perfection by cooking the whole bird. That's when I started doing parts.

quote:

Originally posted by dls:
...Most professionals consider 145F as the perfect temperature for the breast. Anything above that, it starts drying out, brined or not. On the flip side, 165F is considered perfect for thighs...

Great info. However, what's your source. I've been following turkey trends for year, and this is really one of the first ones I've seen posted that mention something for breast below 160.

Not to disagree, just trying to gather more info, always in search of the good stuff out there.

There's probably only a couple of BILLION turkey threads I haven't seen.

Sorry about the comment on Salmonella,as I meant trichinosis.

Thinking two things,faster than I can type one.

..and as correctly stated above, extremely high temps give more carryover,while smoking low/slow tends to give the time at a temp needed to kill bacteria.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:

quote:

Originally posted by dls:
...Most professionals consider 145F as the perfect temperature for the breast. Anything above that, it starts drying out, brined or not. On the flip side, 165F is considered perfect for thighs...

Great info. However, what's your source. I've been following turkey trends for year, and this is really one of the first ones I've seen posted that mention something for breast below 160.

Not to disagree, just trying to gather more info, always in search of the good stuff out there.

There's probably only a couple of BILLION turkey threads I haven't seen.

I probably should have used the word "Some" instead of "Most"

A few years ago, I happened to be in Paris when Thanksgiving occurred. I was invited to have dinner at a highly regarded Parisian restaurant that annually served a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for the benefit of their American customers such as embassy personnel, expat reporters for US based publications,etc. The turkey was easily the best I have ever had.

When I asked the chef what they did to keep the bird, especially the breast, so moist and tender, he said they started cooking it in a low oven pre-heated to 200F. Every 30 minutes or so, they increased the oven temp by 50F until they reached 350F. When the breasts were between 140F and 150F, they removed the birds from the oven, removed and foiled the breasts, and continued cooking the remainder for a short time until the stuffing (cubed foie gras mixed with processed chicken breast, cognac, etc) hit 160F. He didn't mention the temp for the dark meat, but I assume it was in the range of the stuffing.

Obviously, if the breasts are pulled at an average 145F and foiled for a short time, the final temp increase will be at least 5F-10F

I later asked some chef acquaintances of mine about the temps, and they agreed with them on a personal basis, but would probably increase them a bit for restaurant service. Some might consider moist breast meat, without the benefit of gravy, as being undercooked. A bit of Googling supported the temps also.

Bear in mind that this isn't an issue of food safety, but one of taste and texture. Just about any recommendation that you see out there pertains to the former over the latter. Most of the time, those recommendations are on a CYA basis.

So, when I do parts, I pull the breasts at 145, TFC them, and do the same with the dark meat at 160F.

Interesting.

Maybe we tend to think that unbrined breast,becomes drop dead overdone,above about 163*,so we figure that this is also the done point?

Apparently,breast fluids change to clear,above 150*+?

I tend to pull pork by 140*,when it has a tinge of pink,but may serve it to company in a romantic,DIMLY lit room.

We know the appeal to many of fine beef at 120*,or even raw.

I have pulled comp breasts by 155* and held in ziploc bags.

We would always be cautious over non- clear fluid,for being disqualified.

Like Smokin',we prefer dark meat,and assure you the mouth feel of underdone thighs is not welcomed.

Now,when are they underdone?

Sounds like a project.

Some good points, that's why I posted, wanted to see what you guys thing.

I think it's a good point about being "cooked" vs how it feels when eating, two different issues, but they are related.