What temp do you cook to?

[Jerry N.]

What temperature to you pull your turkey and how long do you let it rest. I’m thinking with a long rest time (30min+) pulling it around 155shoukd be good. That should give me enough time at temp to kill any bacteria and still leave the meat moist. Also, I expect it will get pretty close to 160 while resting if I pull it at 150. Thoughts?

 

[Chris in Louisiana]

Meathead has some good info on Turkey temperature.

Dark meat has about 9% fat, 33% more than white meat. So, it tastes and feels best at about 170°F (76.7°C). White meat is very lean, about 6%, and it dries out quickly if it is overcooked. It is at its best texture and juiciness at about 155°F (68.3°C). But that’s 10°F (5.7°C) below the USDA recommendation and the risk is too great at that temp. So I will advise you to cook it to 160°F (71.1°C) and let the temp rise to 165°F (74°C) while it moves from cooker to carving. More on this below.

USDA wants to keep things simple for us in order to keep us safe. Admirable! What USDA doesn’t tell you is that microbes start croaking at about 130°F (54.4°C). The hotter the food gets, the faster the pathogens die. You can pasteurize your turkey at 130°F (54.4°C) in 2 hours or at 165°F (74°C) in 2 seconds, hence the USDA recommended minimum of 165°F (74°C). What the USDA doesn’t tell you is that you can kill them all if you heat the bird to 160°F (71.1°C) for 7 seconds, 155°F (68.3°C) for 23 seconds, or 145°F (62.8°C) for about 4 minutes.

Amazing Ribs Turkey Guide

I'm going to spatchcock for Thanksgiving and hope that I can use basting the breasts to get the white meat to 160 about the same time the dark meat is 165. We'll see.

Johnny on the View to a Grill YouTube channel puts ice bags on the breasts before starting a rotisserie cook to help the white and dark get done together.

 

[Eric-NH]

165⁰ with the temp spike in the breast is perfection. I don't rest for a specific amount of time, just let it rest as I get the rest of the dinner together. I run the ir burner for the first 30 minutes or so, until the skin looks right. Usually total cook time of 2.5 hours or so. This is on my s650 summit

 

[Brett-EDH]

155-157° on breast

175° on thighs

Legs skin pulls up when done from their bottom.

 

[Jerry N.]

155-157° on breast

175° on thighs

Legs skin pulls up when done from their bottom.

View attachment 122139

I’ve given some thought to separating the bird into its parts. Thanks for showing. I might do that as it is the easiest way I can think of to get the white and dark meat to their appropriate temps.