Sabotoging Salmonella – Six steps to roasting your turkey safely: #3- Don’t stuff it with dressing

20 Nov Sabotoging Salmonella – Six steps to roasting your turkey safely: #3- Don’t stuff it with dressing

Many cooks are convinced that if you stuff a turkey with the dressing, it will be more flavorful and moist.  That may be true. However, the risk of salmonella incubating in the turkey cavity is increased pretty dramatically because of the density of the foodstuff and the difficulty in getting the temperature up quickly and continuously throughout.  If your recipe includes cooked giblets, the risk increases because the protein-rich mass of dressing will likely remain at a temperature in the “danger zone”.

I recommend a compromise in roasting that will sabotage salmonella and still create a moist flavorful outcome.   Cook the dressing in bread pans in the oven with the turkey.  Cover the dressing with foil to hold the moisture.  Then stuff the turkey cavity with one or two cored and quartered apples, a small onion quartered, several whole carrots and celery ribs.  These items will add moisture and flavor to the turkey.  They will end up limp and ugly after roasting and can be removed and tossed out after they have served their purpose.