[Sca-cooks] The 50th annual SCA-Cooks Thanksgiving list!

[grizly]

-----Original Message-----
> > >(Of course, I also <GASP!>
>stuff the bird, but I do the stuffing ahead and make sure it's cool before
>stuffing the bird for safety's sake and guess I just grew up wrong 'cause I
>prefer it that way.)
>
>Celia

I thought you were supposed to prepare the stuffing at the last minute so
it was still hot when you put it in the turkey (and then straight into the
oven) so it would spend less time in the danger zone.  If it's already hot
it will only heat further when you roast the stuffed bird.  Have I heard
incorrectly?

Sandra  < < < < < <

That's the conventional wisdom I hear most often . . . hot stuffing.
Somehow, one needs to get the stuffing up to pasteurizing temps during the
cooking cycle of the bird, and pass through the 45-135F zone quickly as
possible.  If you start out at 130F, then you are right there.  Our family
always just dodged the bullet somehow when we were growing up, because we
didn' make "hot" stuffing, and never got ill.  As we got older in the 80's,
dad found roasting bags, which helped trap heat, and push the stuffing heat
some.  We always used pedestrian bread/butter/sage/stock, so not as much
risk as some of the fancier ones out there.

Found this website from USDA Department of Food Safety and Isnpections:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Lets_Talk_Turkey/index.asp  They say to
make sure the stuffing reaches temp, but no suggestions how to assure same.

There has to be a new revolutionaru idea here, somewhere.


niccolo difrancesco