From the former director of the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line
My name is Mary Clingman, and my most favorite job was being the director of the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line. The Butterball Turkey Talk-Line was started way back in 1981. Toll-free phone calls had just become available and someone at Butterball wanted to know if people would have the courage to call up a free number to get free advice about how to cook a turkey. It became an instant hit with millions of calls, and now e-mails and texts, coming in during the holiday season.
Hundreds of thousands of people have contacted Butterball over the years to ask questions about preparing a turkey. In 2019, Time Magazine reported that 14,315 people contacted Butterball Thanksgiving week to ask questions.
It’s amazing how important Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey dinners are all over our great country.
I would like to share with you three of the most important Turkey Tips that I learned from the professionals at Butterball.
1 – Use an accurate meat thermometer to test for doneness. It is very difficult to tell when a turkey is ready to come out of the oven if you don’t use an accurate thermometer. The turkey may look gorgeous, the house smells delightful, the timing on the packaging is met, and maybe even the leg wiggles – none of these are an accurate way to judge doneness.
The goal is that when the turkey temperatures reaches 165 degrees, the turkey is safe and ready to come out of the oven. More than half of all turkeys are over-cooked, which means the breast can be dry.
One meat thermometer you might want to try is this inexpensive digital thermometer from EasyLife. Easy-to-use and affordable, it seems to have the best reviews and also has a 100% lifetime warrantee.
For a fantastic seasoning that goes with everything (including roast turkey), try Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt. So good!
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2 – Ideal temperatures of a cooked turkey are: 165 degrees in the breast and 175 degrees and higher in the thigh. Thigh is okay to eat at 165 degrees, but if you can get the thigh to a higher temperature and not the breast, the thigh meat will be more tender. The key is to shield the breast with aluminum foil (about the size of a piece of typing paper) the last third of the cooking time. By shielding the breast from the oven heat, it allows the heat to keep working on the thigh.
Our favorite pan is a metal pan where the sides of the pan are about 3 to 3-1/2 inches high. Make sure the turkey sits on a turkey rack to get the turkey off the bottom of the pan. This allows for nice heat distribution all around the turkey.
3 Tips To Cook The Perfect Turkey
1. Get a meat thermometer
2. Breast should be 165 degrees, thigh should be 175 degrees
3. Turkey can sit wrapped up for an hour to get everything else hot and ready
3 – How to get the turkey and side dishes, gravy, and turkey carved to be all done and ready to serve all at the same time with only having one oven. When you are planning your menu and time, plan on getting the turkey done one hour before you want to serve. When the turkey is done, remove the turkey from the oven, place it on the platter, and cover the turkey with aluminum foil. Then, take a nice, fluffy large bath towel and place that over the foil. This will insulate the turkey quite nicely and keep it hot. In the meantime, place the veggie and potato casseroles, etc. in the oven. While they are baking, you can make the gravy, and then a half hour later, you can start carving the turkey. Sometimes, the turkey gets done before your plan, or the company is late, etc. – – – just keep in mind, for food safety, you are keeping the turkey hot – you could even put your towel-covered turkey into an insulated cooler or box for 1-2 hours before serving.
