turkey cooking times per pound

time, place bird in leakproof containers and submerge in cold tap water. Change water every 30 minutes to keep the cold and wait melting occurs at a rate of 30 minutes per pound. Depending on the birds and the size of the oven, defrost the turkey in the microwave is another option. If thawed in the microwave, the turkey should be cooked immediately after thawing.
• Most food safety experts recommend NOT stuffing a turkey.
• When cooking turkey, the oven temperature must be below 325 ° F. To determine the approximate cooking time, consult the instructions that come with the turkey or a cookbook. (Keep in mind that the stuffed turkeys should be cooked longer.) Turkey is “doing” when it reaches 165 ° F. For best quality, cook the white meat to 170 ° F and dark meat to 180 ° F. Use a food thermometer to check internal temperature of the turkey in three locations: the deepest part of thigh, the wing and the thickest part of the breast.
• If you stuff the turkey, check the temperature of the stuffing to make sure it also has reached at least 165 ° F. Do not assume that the stuffing reaches 165 ° F if the turkey is.
• If the turkey is done early or your guests arrive late, do not carve the turkey in advance. Try to keep the whole turkey above 140 ° C. (The “danger zone” in which rapidly growing pathogens is 40 ° F-140 ° F) for a short wait while the turkey wrap with foil high strength, and then cover with a towel. For further waiting, preheat the oven to 200 degrees F and put the whole bird back into the furnace to keep warm without burning it. To keep moisture from birds, put a pan of water in the bottom of the oven. (This is also a good technique to keep the carved meat and hot.)
Carving the turkey
• Before class, wait 15-20 minutes to allow juices to absorb cooked turkey and get maximum humidity. Allow to cool slightly will also make easier the process of carving.
Preparation of the sides
• If you are making your own cranberry sauce, start by looking at the berries and discard those that are wrinkled or have defects. (You can use the white.) By the way, fresh blueberries are kept in the refrigerator for about two weeks. If you buy more time than that, it is frozen. Do not thaw before cooking.
• Be sure to wash all fruits and vegetables (including her sweet potato and pumpkin for a pie) just before serving or cooking them. Rinse with cold water. Even if the outside of a fruit or vegetable is not going to be eaten, yet to be washed to remove dirt and other contaminants that could reach the interior of the products.

Put away perishable leftovers

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How Long to Cook A Turkey

The Van Hoof family has been helping people serve tasty Thanksgiving dinners for 56 years now, by breeding and growing broad-breasted white turkeys.

Bob’s Turkey Farm, at 181 Old Common Road, was started in 1954 by Robert Van Hoof, and is definitely a family affair that includes his children: daughter Susan Miner runs the retail operation and does the bookkeeping while son Richard Van Hoof runs the breeding and raising of the turkeys. Another daughter, MaryBeth Blanchflower, runs the kitchen.

While the type of turkeys they offer have remained the same, the business has grown and evolved.

“Families aren’t as big they used to be,” said Susan Miner, who runs the retail portion of the business, and is a daughter of founder Robert Van Hoof. “Families are smaller and more than ever this year we’ve had people sizing down. A lot of people said it’s just going to be the four of us this year.”

While Thanksgiving is their biggest selling period, Christmas and Easter are also high selling times, Miner said.

With a year-round business they’ve have developed a wide variety of products, from their turkey pies to turkey lasagna to turkey sausage.

 “Our soup has a tons of meat in it, it’s not like canned chicken noodle soup where you have to go looking for the meat,” said Robert Van Hoof, who still works at the farm. The soup as well as the breaded cutlets and turkey sausage were also customer requests that were added to the menu.

Over the last 15 years, customers have also shown a lot more interest in pre-made items that they can put in the oven, like the lasagna or the pies.

“I also think over that time that people have wanted a lot more healthy types of food,” Miner said, which leads them to use turkey because it has less fat. “People also have less time to cook.”

The business has grown in other ways as well. In 1954, Van Hoof started with 125 turkeys, and these days there are 15,000 turkeys between the Lancaster farm and the Ashburnham farm. The majority of the turkeys are raised in Lancaster, and about 3,000 breeders are kept in Ashburnham so there will always be healthy stock.

Turkeys can get several types of respiratory diseases, and if that happens it spreads and there is no real cure.

When asked what leads to a good turkey, Van Hoof didn’t hesitate for a second. “A good, clean baby turkey,” he said. “Cleanliness is important to keeping them healthy.”

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