poultry i take to ~165

spatchcocked last year

trying Franklins ~325 this year

Sazerac said:

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160 is overcooked

I sous vide 3 hrs at 138 then ice bath and in the fridge. Will smoke to 150 max then wrap until serving. We

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

OasisMan said:

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poultry i take to ~165

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Why do you u like overcooked turkey?

For what it's worth, I graduated with a Masters in Meat Science many years ago...and my thesis centered around the destruction of Trichinella spiralis in pork products.

In today's commercial pork production, trichinosis has been virtually eliminated. It's a worm that grows in the flesh and is transmitted to hogs when they're fed garbage (which was common practice many, many years ago). Ironically, if you find any Trichinella today it's normally in wild game (and even that is rare). Further, it's killed at a relatively low temperature...137 degrees, which is why you can cook your pork safely today to 140 degrees.

The problem with poultry, and the reason you should cook it to 165 degrees, is due to the slaughtering processes at today's packers. The evisceration process in beef, pork, and lamb is done manually. Because of that, it's less likely that the gut or any of the viscera will be cut and opened by the worker (though it does happen due to the high line speeds). And yes, the bacteria is on the surface, but it's also in the viscera. In the poultry industry, especially with chicken, the evisceration is done mechanically by machines. There is a greater likelihood that the viscera will be nicked and cut by the machine, and the bacteria then contaminates the carcass.

Secondly, with beef, pork, and lamb the carcass is air-chilled in a cooler. The carcass does not come into direct contact with the hundreds of other carcasses in the cooler. Not so with poultry. The eviscerated bird is chilled to below 40 degrees by immersion in a chlorinated water bath, with hundreds of other birds. What this means is that bacteria from one carcass is now in the water and can transmit to another carcass. Further, due to osmosis, the warm carcasses absorb water. While the chlorine does kill bacteria, one can't assume it is 100% effective. This is why it is so important to cook poultry to 165 degrees.

There's a poultry processor in Pennsylvania by the name of Bell & Evans. They do not use water baths. Rather, they air chill (just like the beef, pork, and lamb processors). Here's a very good explanation of the differences between air chilling and a water bath: Air-chilled

By the way, thanks for all the tips on smoking a turkey. I opted to use the Spatchcock method and smoked it on my Weber Smoky Mountain and it came out great.

Thank you for the advice. Here are the results of smoking and frying. It is the morning after and we are not quite dead yet.

ToddyHill said:

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The eviscerated bird is chilled to below 40 degrees by immersion in a chlorinated water bath, with hundreds of other birds.

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so our chicken/turkey are brined in chlorine ?!?!!


(btw thx for the info)

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so our chicken/turkey are brined in chlorine ?!?!!

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Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the answer is yes.