Thanksgiving 2012 - Part VI (Turkey)

This would be a very difficult topic to address because so many people use so many different ways of preparing a Thanksgiving turkey. Examples of the differences that people do for Thanksgiving are:

• Some stuff the turkey cavity and neck
• Some don't stuff the turkey at all
• Some use wire brackets to close the legs
• Some (like me) actually hand sew the cavity & neck area close
• Some don't close anything
• Some use plastic steaming bags
• Some openly roast the turkey and tent it with foil at the end
• Some baste during roasting
• Some never baste at all
• Some thaw it on the counter in a water bath overnight
• Some thaw it in the microwave

My only point to all of this is that regardless (not "irregardless") of what process you use to prepare a Thanksgiving turkey, there are some things we ALL have in common to insure a delicious holiday dinner and avoid getting people sick.

1. Use a meat thermometer to make sure that it reaches at least 165 F in the deepest part of the thighs, breast and stuffing
2. Let it sit for at least 20 minutes after you take it out of the oven before carving
3. Get all of the leftovers back in the refrigerator within 2 hours of taking it out of the oven
4. Eat or use the leftovers within 3 days of cooking it all
5. Don't feed the dogs from the table (yeah, that isn't recommended EVER)
6. Always rinse the bird before stuffing or cooking
7. Remove the bag of giblets if it has one!!!!
8. Have some dishes available for a vegetarian family member

But my most important point is that you need to remember that holidays are not necessarily about "tradition," but more about spending time with those around you. Sometimes you need to compromise. See my original blog entry about Thanksgiving Compromise to better understand. You want to spend time with friends and family, but it has to be enjoyable to all to make it gel. Remember, it IS a holiday and we all want to be happy. Make it happen... and

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Give Your Steak a Hot Water Bath

Finger included to cover the brand

Shame on me. I forgot to take the stew meat out of the freezer last night and put it in the fridge. We all were taught that is what you do. Or, give it a bath in cold water for a while. I remembered a recent conversation with a local chef. He explained to me that the USDA has approved a HOT water bath to thaw meat in almost no time. Before I decided to simply do it, I fired up Google and found some information about that.

The best info I encountered was in the New York Times, by Harold McGee (click HERE for his article). The article was based on some testing done by the USDA and himself. I'm going to just quote and summarize McGee's article here:

At the U.S.D.A. labs in Beltsville, Md., Janet S. Eastridge and Brian C. Bowker test-thawed more than 200 one-inch-thick beef strip loin steaks in three different groups: some in a refrigerator at 37 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, some in a constantly circulating water bath at 68 degrees, and some in a water bath at 102 degrees.

Air-thawing in the refrigerator took 18 to 20 hours, while the room-temperature water bath thawed the steaks in about 20 minutes, and the hot-summer-day bath in 11 minutes. These water-bath times are so short that any bacterial growth would remain within safe limits.

Stopwatch and instant thermometer

More detailed information can be found in that article and from the publication in March, 2011 by the USDA for the Journal of Food Science [link]. So, I tried this concept in my kitchen with stew meat by giving it a hot water bath. I used an instant thermometer to monitor the temp of the water, and kept it a little higher than the test amount. I kept it at about 120° F. I stirred the meat and refreshed the water every few minutes as I cut the veggies and rinsed/drained the black beans. My stew meat was thawed in about 8 minutes. WOW!!! Yeah, as a roller derby ref with some OCD, I tend to time everything.

I took notice of something in McGee's article (quoted below), that I tested too, about the flavor. Since he said it applied to steak, I applied it to stew meat. Both are beef based meat. Maybe I'll write some more blog entries as I test it on chicken, pork chops, ground beef, turkey, etc.

The water-thawed steaks actually leaked less juice than the air-thawed steaks.

I can verify that the stew meat did have a little more juice and flavor, once the crock pot stew was done. Quick and easy, and full of flavor. Try it yourself. Stay tuned for more usage of the hot water bath on frozen chops and chicken.