KitchenSavvy

How Long will Leftover Turkey Keep in the Fridge?

We roasted a fresh turkey un-stuffed on Thanksgiving and the left-over pieces have been stored in the refrigerator in it's own container.  How long is too long to safely consume the left-over turkey?  Thank you.

--Betty

In our house, most of the leftover turkey is consumed for late night snacks or lunch the next day as Turkey Buns.  In fact, I have been known to say the only reason to roast a turkey for supper is to have leftovers for turkey buns.  Still, there is alway some leftover for turkey with gravy, tetrazzini or some other dish.

The general rule for meat is that it will safely keep for about three days, provided that:

• the meat was thoroughly cooked;
• it was not left in the "danger zone" temperatures of between 140°F (60°C) and 40°F (4°C) for more than two hours; and
• the refrigerator is kept below 40°F (4°C).

If any of the above is not done, then the storage time will be reduced, and the risk of food-borne illness greatly increased.

For turkey and chicken, the meat must be cooked to at least 165°F (74°C) throughout, although you likely want to cook the dark meat to closer to 180°F (82°C) for the best results.  If the turkey had been stuffed, then the stuffing should be completely removed from the bird and refrigerated separately.  Because of the extra moisture in stuffing, it will only keep for one or at most two days.  As much as possible, the meat should be stored in large pieces.  Most food safety experts recommend taking all of the meat off of the bones before refrigerating.  The carcass can be discarded of used to make stock or soup.

Reheat the leftover turkey to at least 165°F (74°C), preferably in gravy, or some other sauce, before serving.

To learn more about how long food can be left out before refrigeration and the danger zone, read How Long Can Cooked Food Be Left Out.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Cooking Two Roasts at Once

Hi.  I managed to find two beef roasts of about 8 pounds each that together are enough to serve company coming for Easter dinner.  My question is, how long do I need to cook them?  Do I treat them like one 16 pound roast?

--Shaun

The amount of time that it takes a roast to cook depends on two major factors:  the temperature at which the meat is cooked and the thickness of the meat.  By thickness, I mean the shortest distance from side to side through the middle of the roast.  For a standing rib roast, that would likely be the distance running across the ribs at the center.  For tenderloin, the distance would the the diameter at the thickest point, not the length.

Weight is used to estimate how long it will take enough heat to reach the center, which is why in recipes there is a frequently a wide variation in the range of cooking times, and why they may give a shorter time per pound for very large pieces to cook.

If you were to place the roasts together so that they are in contact along one side, then the cooking time would be somewhere around double the time needed to cook just one of the roasts alone.  If your oven and roasting pans are large enough to accommodate both roasts at once with plenty of space between them for air to circulate well, then the roasting time for both will likely be only slightly more than the time needed to cook just one of them.

This assumes that your oven can keep its temperature high enough.  Because the oven heat is going into cooking both of them at the same time, two roasts will cool the oven down faster than one, so the heating element may be on for a greater portion of the cooking time.

You should still use a thermometer to check the temperature.  For beef, the USDA recommends cooking temperatures of 145°F (63°C) for medium-rare, 160°F (71°C) for medium, and 170°F (77°C) for well done.  The Joy of Cooking specifies temperatures that are somewhat lower, 130-135°F (54-57°C) for medium-rare, 140-150°F (60-66°C) for medium, but about the same for well done at 170-185°F (77-85°C).  The lower cooking temperatures allow, in part, for the fact that the temperature will rise as the meat rests after cooking.

A roast is usually allowed to rest 15 to 30 minutes once it is taken out on the oven.  Since the outer part of the roast will be hotter than the center as it comes out of the oven, resting allows for more even distribution of heat throughout the roast and may make carving easier.  To rest the roast, place it on a platter and cover loosely with aluminum foil.  I also drape over that one or two layers of clean cloth kitchen towels to help keep in a bit more of the heat.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Rainbow Colors on Meat

I notice sometimes that meat in the display counter at my local butcher shop has a green and magenta sheen to it.  What causes this?  Is the meat still okay to eat?

--Toni

What you are noticing is likely a phenomenon referred to as iridescence, or more technically birefringence.  Essentially, this is the same effect as light passing through a crystal and splitting into a rainbow of colors, only the rainbow is from light reflecting off of a surface rather than passing through something.  This can happen with either fresh cut or cured meats, and depends mostly on the angle at which the muscle fiber happens to have been cut.

Birefringence is more noticeable on darker colored meats like beef that lighter ones like chicken because the dark background gives greater contrast.

Provided that it is caused by the reflection of light from the surface and not a permanent green color to the meat, it is still safe to eat.  You can tell by moving the light source, the meat or yourself to a different position and seeing if the rainbow colors shift or disappear.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Roast Turkey Temperature

When roasting a turkey, what temperature should it be cooked to and what is the best way to measure the temperature.

--Brenda

Ideally, the meat on the breast of a turkey should be roasted to 165°F (74°C) to be at its most tender.  However the leg and thigh need to be cooked slightly higher, to between 175°F (80°C) and 180°F (82°C).  At those temperatures, the light and dark meats are at their most tender and moist.  Above those temperatures, the proteins start to tighten, squeezing out moisture and leaving the meat drier.

There are a lot of techniques that have been devised for getting around this temperature difference.  The Joy of Cooking suggests roasting the bird breast down or on one side for about two hours and then flipping it on its back to finish.  In The Way to Cook, Julia Child suggests breaking the turkey down into pieces before roasting.  Because the drumsticks and thighs are away from the larger breast, they will cook faster.  The cooked turkey can be carved and presented as if it had been roasted whole.

The easiest method is simply to roast the turkey whole and cover the breast with a double layer of aluminum foil for the last half hour or so of cooking.

Total cooking time depends on the size of the bird and whether or not it is stuffed.  Smaller birds and those that are not stuffed will cook faster.  In general, allow about 15 minutes per pound for a stuffed turkey and about 12 minutes per pound if it is not stuffed.  Also, remember to add 20 minutes to a half hour resting time once the turkey comes out of the oven before carving it.

To measure temperature for a whole roasted turkey, plunge an instant read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh away from the bone, but towards the body and wait until the needle stops moving.  If the tip of the thermometer is close to or touching bone, the reading will not be accurate.  Measure the temperature of the breast by plunging the tip of the thermometer into the thickest part of the breast, again away from any bone.  The temperatures should both be at least those noted above.  If you break the turkey down, each piece must be tested for temperature individually.

Also, remember that to be safe the stuffing should read at least 165°F (74°C), measured by inserting the thermometer into the deepest part of the stuffing.

Finally, if your turkey comes with one of those pop-up buttons to show when it is done, still check with a thermometer.  The button is only an estimate and may not be completely reliable.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Tenderizing Meat with Lard

Is there a recipe for tenderizing steak with lard?  Someone told me this works well and I would like to try it.  Thank you.

--Elsie

None of my references say anything about tenderizing steak with lard, although there is a technique called larding, which is used to tenderize larger cuts of meat like roasts.  To lard a roast, pieces of un-rendered fat, usually from fatback or pork belly, are inserted into the roast at spaces of about 1 1/2 to 2 inches (3.8 to 5 cm).  As the roast cooks, the fat melts and spreads into the muscle fiber, tenderizing the meat.  The effect is to essentially increase the marbling of a lean cut of meat.

A tool called a larding needle is specifically made to insert pieces of fat, or you can simply cut strips of pork fat about 1/4 inch (0.6 cm) square by about 2 to three inches (5 to 7.6 cm) long and freeze them until they are fairly stiff.  Then plunge a narrow pairing knife into the roast to make an incision into which a piece of the fat can be inserted.  If you wish, you can also insert a thin slice of garlic at the same time to add flavor.  Do this all over the surface of the roast.

Another technique, called barding, involves simply tying a thin layer of un-rendered fat onto the top of the roast before cooking.  The fat is removed for the final half hour or so to allow a final browning to occur.

I can't see using using either of these techniques on a steak, however, as the meat is usually too thin to be larded and the cooking times too short for barding to be effective.  Also, if you like your steak on the rarer side, you might find that you encounter chunks of unmelted fat.  I suppose you could try rubbing baking lard into the surface of the meat, but penetration would be shallow.  The major tenderizing would likely come from the mechanical action of massaging the steak while doing so.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Slicing Roast Beef

Every time I try to slice a roast, the taste of the meat is really good but I end up with shredded meat instead of nice neat slices. What is the secret to getting good sliced roast beef?

-- Toni

As the meat cooks, the fat and connective tissue in it dissolve from the heat.  Most of the connective tissue is collagen, which partly turns into gelatin at somewhere around 140 °F (60 °C).  At about 170°F (76°C), muscle fibers begin to tighten, forcing out water, eventually making the meat seem dry.

If you are cooking your beef roast to well done, then the muscle fibers will have started to tighten and at the same time much of the fat and collagen will be in a liquid state.  Now, if you slice the beef at this temperature, following the general rule to slice across the grain, you end up with short little bits of muscle fiber with nothing holding them together - instant shredded beef.  This is especially true for cuts like brisket where there are fairly large distinct bundles of muscle fiber, or heavily marbled cuts like rib roasts.

To avoid having the beef shred, allow it to rest, covered with a layer of aluminum foil, for about 15 to 20 minutes.  As it rests, two things will happen.  First, the muscle fibers will absorb some of the juices that were previously squeezed out during cooking.  They will also soften up a bit.  At the same time, some of the gelatin, collagen and fat that had melted will start to set, gluing the muscle fibers back together.

Cuts of meat like round roasts that have very smooth muscle are less prone to shredding, but will usually produce a tougher roast.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Meat Dries Out in Slow Cooker

I've just started using a slow cooker, and have had pretty mediocre results in keeping my meat moist vs. conventional cooking. For example, the chicken always seems overdone and dry.  Even my beef stew has been on the dry side, with my latest one almost inedible (not tough--just dry) after 7.5 hours on Low. My question is:  Am I simply overcooking it (i.e. the slow cooker might be hotter than the recipes call for)?  Should I start adjusting my times down, and if so, by how much?  Or is it meant to be stewed longer?  Should I add more liquid?  The vegetables seem perfect, though.

I've actually used several different models of slow cooker (some borrowed, some bought and returned), and they all seem to dry the meat.

-- Ramona

This may come as a surprise, but what is likely happening is that you are overcooking the meat.  We tend to think that if you stew meat, the longer it cooks, the more tender and juicy it gets.  In fact, this works only up to a point.

As proteins heat up, they loosen their internal bonds, begin to uncoil and bond with neighboring protein molecules.   See Custards and Sauces for a description of how proteins change with temperature.

However, at somewhere around 170°F (76°C), depending on the meat used and the other ingredients present, the protein network begins to break apart again and and the individual molecules tighten back up.  As that happens, the muscle fibers in the meat shrink, their cell walls break open and the water that was trapped within the muscle fiber starts to leak out. The result is that the texture of the meat becomes dry even though it was cooked in liquid.  The same thing can happen in a pot roast or even with meat dishes cooked on the stovetop.

If you're like many people who start supper in the slow cooker before you leave for work in the morning then you are taking part in a balancing act.  You are trying to cook the food at a sufficiently high temperature so that it gets out of the danger zone for bacterial growth fairly quickly.  That temperature range is between 40 °F and 140 °F (4 °C to 60 °C).  On the other hand, you don't want to overcook the meat to the point of being too dry. This isn't an easy balance to achieve.

I would try cutting the meat into somewhat larger chunks, perhaps up to about 2 inches (5 cm) to a side, and cooking for a shorter period of time.  Once the cooker gets up to temperture, try cooking the food for about 5 hours longer.  That should give you a total cooking time of about 6 hours.  If the meat is still coming out dry, reduce the time by another half hour or so.  For safety, though, always be sure that the meat is cooked completely.

If you want to see more recommendations on using a slow cooker check out the posting Browning Meat for Slow Cooker.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Basting

What does it mean to baste something?  How and when do you do it?

-- Nora

Basting is used in roasting meat and poultry.  To baste something, you take some of the juices that have collected in the bottom of the pan and use them to moisten the top surface.  The juices may be spooned over the meat or brushed on.  A basting bulb can also be used.  It is a hollow tube which narrows to a small opening on one end and has a soft bulb on the other end.  To use it, the bulb is squeezed to press out some air, and then the open end is placed into the juices in the pan.  When the bulb is released, the vacuum which is created draws the liquid into the tube.  The liquid can then be drizzled over the meat by gently squeezing the bulb again.

Basting is done every 20 minutes or so, depending on temperature and the meat being cooked.  Always follow the instructions in the recipe.

Basting has two major effects.  Because the juice is loaded with protein and natural sugars from the meat, when it reaches the roasting temperature, it undergoes a Maillard reaction (see Browning Meat for Slow Cooker).  This adds both flavor and color to the outside of the meat.

Also, as the water in the juices evaporates, it cools the surface of the meat slightly while at the same time moistening it.  Both of these effects help to keep the meat from drying out.

Roasts with a layer of fat, cooked fat side up, don't need to be basted.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Browning Meat for Slow Cooker

Please help settle a family debate.  Is it necessary to brown meat that is being cooked in a slow cooker?

-- Sandra, Bobbi and Bruce

With the exception of ground meats, it is not absolutely necessary to brown the meat before cooking it in a slow cooker or Crock Pot, although it is recommended as part of the flavor development of the dish.  When meat is browned, the sugars and proteins on the surface undergo a change called the Maillard reaction, after the French physician Louis Camille Maillard (pronounced "My yard") who discovered the reaction.  This reaction creates the rich nutty flavor associated with gravies, roasted meats, baked beans, and other foods.

If you don't brown the meat, particularly in beef dishes, then the final dish ends up tasting rather thin and without depth.  In slow cooker recipes using  chicken and pork, where the flavors are not usually so complex, browning is not as common.  Still, the dishes may benefit from browning the meat.

Because ground meats are more prone to growth of e-coli and other bacteria, I would recommend always browning them.

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service recommends these practices for using slow cookers:

• Begin with a clean cooker, clean utensils and a clean work area.
• Wash hands before and during food preparation.
• Keep perishable foods refrigerated until preparation time.
• If you cut up meat and vegetables in advance, store them separately in the refrigerator.
• Always defrost meat or poultry before putting it into a slow cooker.
• Choose to make foods with a high moisture content such as chili, soup, stew or spaghetti sauce.
• Cut food into chunks or small pieces to ensure thorough cooking. Do not use the slow cooker for large pieces like a roast or whole chicken because the food will cook so slowly it could remain in the bacterial "Danger Zone," between 40 °F and 140 °F (4 °C to 60 °C), too long.
• Fill cooker no less than half full and no more than two-thirds full.
• Vegetables cook slower than meat and poultry in a slow cooker so if using them, put vegetables in first, at the bottom and around sides of the utensil. Then add meat and cover the food with liquid such as broth, water or barbecue sauce.
• Keep the lid in place, removing only to stir the food or check for doneness.
• If possible, turn the cooker on the highest setting for the first hour of cooking time and then use setting called for in your recipe. However, it's safe to cook foods on low the entire time -- if you're leaving for work, for example, and preparation time is limited.
• Once it is done, food will stay safe as long as the cooker is operating.
• If you are not at home during the entire slow-cooking process and the power goes out, throw away the food even if it looks done. If you are at home, finish cooking the ingredients immediately by some other means: on a gas stove, on the outdoor grill or at a house where the power is on. If the food was completely cooked before the power went out, and you were home at the time so you know when it happened, the food should remain safe up to two hours in the cooker with the power off.

I would add that if you are cutting up meat and vegetables ahead of time, cut all of the vegetables first and package them up to refrigerate before starting to cut up the meat, to avoid cross contamination.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Complete vs Complementary Protein

Q: Would you please tell me what the difference is between complete and complementary proteins.

-- Angie

Proteins are the basic building blocks for all living cells.  They are made up from chains of smaller compounds called amino  acids.  There are 20 amino acids that are important to human health.  Of these, your body is able to manufacture most itself from carbohydrates, fats and other amino acids.  That leaves nine amino acids that you need to get from your diet, called the Essential Amino Acids.

Meats and eggs contain all nine of the essential amino acids, and in about the right combinations for use in the human body, and so are called Complete Proteins.  Other protein sources, such as beans, grains and nuts, do not contain all nine essential amino acids, or contain them in quantities that are not in the same proportions as needed, so they are called Incomplete Proteins.