(Juneau) Officials with Dodge County’s UW-Extension are sharing a few Thanksgiving food safety tips. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 46 million turkeys are cooked and eaten in the United States at Thanksgiving.
That number represents one-sixth of all the turkeys sold in the U.S. each year. Pattie Carroll, human development and relationship educator with the Extension, says cooking your turkey is one of the biggest challenges a person can face while preparing their holiday meal.
She recommends cooking your Thanksgiving turkey to an internal temperature of 165-degrees and breast side up.
“That’s a very thick piece of meet and when you cook it breast side up…the juices can go through the turkey and that really helps,” says Carroll. “So, breast side up and on a flat rack and a shallow pan. And we suggest the pan be two-to-two-and-a-half inches deep.”
Carroll also shares a few tips for properly stuffing a turkey.
“Right before cooking…that’s when you stuff it,” says Carroll. “And you want to loosely stuff…you don’t want to shove it in there so tight…and place the prepared stuffing in your turkey just before roasting. Allow a half to three-quarter cup of stuffing per pound of turkey. So, the bigger the bird…the more stuffing you need to stuff in.”
Carroll says to refrigerate leftovers within two hours. She encourages cutting the bird into smaller pieces and place it in shallow containers for quick cooling.
