Turkey Torture

Maybe its just me, but I looked at this offering on Amazon and winced. Does it put anyone else in mind of the ill fated 'end' of Edward II? The choice of name, 'turkey cannon' also seems unfortunate (with friends like that, who needs enemas?).



http://www.amazon.ca/Camp-Chef-TKYC-Inf ... hef+turkey

[Robin Garr]

Save for the effect on tender imaginations, it looks like an effective way to roast with air circulation all around. Of course, so does a roaster rack, so where is the need here?

And you wouldn't get to stuff it, which IMNSHO is the main reason for cooking a turkey.

And you wouldn't get to stuff it, which IMNSHO is the main reason for cooking a turkey.

My secretary was all stoked to buy one of these and then it dawned on her that she'd have to cook the stuffing on the side (in my and her opinions a less desirable and drier way) and she's backed off and is reconsidering the purchase.

The one good thing about this and the various vertical chicken cooking apparati that I can see is that fat doesn't pool with the bird sitting in it.

This particular one allows you to fill the tube with liquid (they suggest beer) so it keeps the inside of the bird moist. For me, that's what stuffing does.

I wouldn't worry about cooking the stuffing separately. Since we smoke our turkey we have been doing that for years. The stuffing does not dry out the way we make it.

What's your secret, Carl?

[Robin Garr]

For what it's worth, Alton Brown speaks strongly against stuffing poultry, primarily for food-safety reasons: When you cook the bird to an appropriate temperature, the stuffing - with the poultry juices that seep into it - doesn't achieve bacteria-killing temperatures.

I have some background in microbiology, and that has always concerned me a bit, too.

What's your secret, Carl?

Use plenty of butter and stock.

[David M. Bueker]

For what it's worth, Alton Brown speaks strongly against stuffing poultry, primarily for food-safety reasons: When you cook the bird to an appropriate temperature, the stuffing - with the poultry juices that seep into it - doesn't achieve bacteria-killing temperatures.

Note that he always has his fake lawyers around when he talks about that kind of stuff. That's his cue to let you know he is telling you what he HAS TO versus what he might want to.

Been eating turkey cooked with stuffing inside for well over 40 years. Moist turkey, moist stuffing, no problems.

Looks like it's a way of adapting the beer can chicken method to turkey. That technique makes for pretty good chicken, but I don't think I'd buy the gadget just to do that with turkey.

[Robin Garr]

Note that he always has his fake lawyers around when he talks about that kind of stuff. That's his cue to let you know he is telling you what he HAS TO versus what he might want to.

Correctamundo! I may have forgotten, though, but I don't think he uses the fake lawyers on the STUFFING IS EEEEEVIL gig. He goes overboard, but just as he does when people scream in terror when he mentions THE ZOOOOONE! , I think he's serious about this.

Been eating turkey cooked with stuffing inside for well over 40 years. Moist turkey, moist stuffing, no problems.

Yeah, you don't get salmonella every time, or even 1 in 1,000 (although I'll bet the risk goes up with industrially produced poultry). But get it once, and you'll start paying attention.

Speaking of wailing about raw food ("Are you trying to KILL someone?") by people like Gordon Ramsay (in his Hell's Kitchen etc.), I wonder exactly what they think a scallop that isn't cooked all the way through is going to do to someone. Surely he has eaten sushi....

[Jenise]

So did you cook a turkey for T-Day? IIRC, Suz is a fan but you're not.