Day 91 or 1000
My boss is a brilliant physicist from Russia. We go to lunch together just about every day. We talk about a lot if different stuff. A couple of days ago, I told him I was in charge of cooking the turkey at Thanksgiving this year. I told him about my cousin, Tim Mecum, who was always willing to tell us when the turkey was too dry. I have struggled with that for years. Even when I use a meat thermometer or that little button that pops out on the Butterball, it does not always come out right. Actually, I get it right about 80% of the time, but that other 20% makes for very sad Thanksgivings. He said he had the perfect way to cook a turkey.
He said, “You need to take the thawed turkey out of the refrigerator and leave it on the counter the night before you cook it.”
I said, “Why?”
He said, “If there is a big temperature differential between the inside of the turkey and the outside of the turkey, it is hard to be sure that when the inside of the turkey is the right temperature, the outside of the turkey is cooked properly, too. Because the turkey is cooked from the outside in, the outside dries more quickly than the inside. The colder the turkey, the greater the differential during the cooking process. If the whole turkey starts at room temperature, there is less differential during the cooking process than if the turkey starts at refrigerator temperature.”
We are going to test out that turkey on Thursday. We will keep you posted.
Hunter
Sounds logical!
Jeannie H.
Hmmm…we’ll be curious to hear if it works.
Also, I will do a post on the blurb books … just as soon as life slows down a bit. Stay posted!
John and I always do something that is not recommended….we stuff the turkey the night before. Then we put it in the oven about 6:00-7:00 am. It is always a huge bird ~ approx. 21 lb. No one has ever gotten ill, even mildly.
Eric
Also, try placing the turkey in a baking bag or aluminum foil. Just as the temperature differential is a factor, so is the pressure differential. A bag, or aluminum foil, keeps a more constant pressure throughout the turkey as the temperature rises. If the pressure remains constant, then the moisture will remain inside the turkey, reducing the evaporative through the exterior as temperature rises.
Man Eric! One step at a time. As an engineer, I need to try things one at a time to see what is actually providing the help. So, that give me an excuse to buy another couple of Turkeys. After the temperature differential experiment, I will have to do a pressure differential experiment, combined with a pressure AND temperature differential experiment. Really, I should do each one three to five times…
We are glad no one was harmed Ruthie!
We are really looking forward to seeing your post Jeannie! We are going to do this and really want to see how it is done.
Eric
May I introduce you to Design of Experiments? … It greatly reduces the need to “twiddle the knobs” through multiple trials.
Have a great Thanksgiving and our special greetings to Gladys & your family!
Bryan
I see you’ve covered the temperature and pressure differential’s, but you’ve left out the most critical: gravitational differential!
Immediately upon removal from the oven, the turkey, while still in it’s pressure differential sack, and before the temperature differential returns, should be inverted 180º (as in orientation, not temperature), for several minutes while cooling, to overcome the gravitational forces on the moisture that existed while cooking.
Any moisture that remains in the pressure differential sack, after the aforementioned gravitational differential reversal, becomes gravy.
(NOW you know why they call it gravy.)
I laughed out loud when I read this. It almost makes up for the nasty untrue things you said about my high school experience as an impoverished, downtrodden youth. We will consider this carefully when we make the gravy this year!
Eric, we will pass on your greetings! We ought to try to do Thanksgiving together next year. It would be GREAT to have you guys out here for that.
Eric
That is a fantastic, Bryan … I have always wondered why they called it “gravy”.
The geek in me thinks one way to equalize the gravy variable would be to rotate the turkey while baking. Theoretically, the gravitational juices could oscillate within the turkey, never actually dripping out until cooked to perfection.
On the other hand, I’ve just introduced another variable, rotational velocity. And, with rotational velocity comes that centripetal/centrifugal acceleration thingy. I can just see Christian, when Ken’s back is turned, delightedly twiddling the rotational velocity knobs higher and higher until the pressure differential bag becomes dislodged and gravitational liquids are evenly distributed over the walls and ceiling of Lorena’s beautiful kitchen.
And just in case you engineers haven’t totally covered it : http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/74/Classic-Roast-Turkey