Image Credit: Adam Donnelly

By Adam Donnelly

HOLIDAY FOOD SAFETY

Turkey talk: ensuring Christmas dinner is as safe as it tasty

Dec 24, 2020 | 2:23 PM

KAMLOOPS — We can add one more item to the list of things COVID-19 has affected: Christmas dinner. This year could be the year many British Columbians are forced to cook Christmas dinner on their own.

While roasting an entire turkey may seem like a daunting task, CFJC Today found out some tips to help make dinner not only delicious but safe, as well.

It’s nearly Christmas Day, and for many, traditional turkey is on the menu along with all the other fixings.

“The first thing we want to do is get our turkey out of the fridge about an hour before we want to cook it,” Chef Adam Florence says. “This allows the bird to temper so we get a nice even cooking.”

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However, COVID-19 might mean the regular family cook is staying home in accordance with the Province’s regulations. So this year, there could be many inexperienced Turkey cookers taking on the big bird. For those folks, Interior Health has some tips to make sure dinner is safe as well as savoury.

“Temperature control is one thing, and cleanliness is another,” Kevin Touchet, Manager of Environmental Health with IH explains. “As well as proper cooking.”

Touchet says it’s important to ensure your turkey doesn’t spend too much time in what calls “the danger zone” – which is between four and sixty degrees celsius.

“If you’ve got a bird that’s frozen solid, you probably want to speed things up in terms of thawing it. A lot of people will put it in a sink full of cold water – a clean sink – fill it up with cold water, let the bird sit in there, and then change the water every hour or so. You generally don’t want to be thawing it out in room temperature, because you don’t want it sitting that danger zone range.”

It’s important to make sure that you don’t cross-contaminate any surfaces with raw turkey juice, so washing your hands and cutting boards is crucial. Making sure your turkey is cooked through with a meat thermometer will help ensure you don’t inadvertently poison anyone at dinner time.

“It’s really important to check the final cooking temperature, to make sure you’ve killed off the bugs that might be in that product,” Touchet says. “What we’re looking for is a minimum all the way through the bird of 74 degrees celsius, about 165 [degrees] Fahrenheit.”

Chef Adam Florence has a number of great ideas for adding flavour to your turkey. You can catch the TRU Gift of Learning lesson he recently completed on cooking, carving, and resting your holiday turkey here.

And when it comes to leftovers, best to get them in the fridge right away, so they’re safe to enjoy over the holidays.