Turkey Salmonella, anyone?

Took my parents to their favorite buffet for Thanksgiving. The place, an outlet of a national chain, was jammed with diners. We got through the door about an hour before closing time, after a 30-minute wait in line.

The guy cutting the all-you-can-eat steak was also hacking great gouts of white meat from a roasted turkey breast. So I asked for a chunk. The cooks must have been speed-cooking those things in an extremely hot oven, because the skin side was crozzled and the inside was cold and bloody raw. I mean, by the time I got back to our table, my plate was swimming in turkey blood.


I like my steak on the rare side, but Turkey Salmonella is not one of my favorite dishes. The whole plateful went into the bus tub.

Anyone ever read the turkey dinner chapter in "The Accidental Tourist"?

Bill, thank god you saw it before you ate it. ugh. That dinner in the acidental tourist was too funny. cooking the thing over night at what, 200 degrees? The best part was when discussing what they could do to make it safe to eat, one of the teenagers said,"expose it to a nuclear flash" I believe the other suggestion was to "autoclave" the bird. euww.

Bloody bird... Now thats about the nastiest thing I've heard in a long time... What a way to destroy ones festivus...

I don't think I have ever seen turkey blood and I don't think I want to start now!

To put a new twist on it, I attended our aunt's house; they buy a fresh killed huge turkey and have been doing so for years. The aunt thought it was done "by the touch", and I told her to put a thermometer in it to check. well, the thermometer reading was too low, so she left it in the oven another half hour. the driest turkey you ever ate. i felt so bad. her thermometer must have been uncalibrated.I will never hear the end of it. that is the last time i will butt in. I am a health inspector, so i do know what i am talking about, but in this case it was a bust. beth

After my birds were done smoking I put them in a pan and covered it with foil to bring to my brothers. I wrapped the whole thing in a bath towel. As the potatoes weren’t done we just let the birds sit there for almost an hour. We had heard your supposed to let them rest anyways. It was the best bird we ever had, the juice stayed in the meat rather than running out by carving to soon.

I’m not a big complainer. But I would definitely be calling the chain with that served the bloody bird. That’s just nasty.

My aunt served a bloody bird last year, said " oh I guess it wasn't thawed all the way". The cousins put it in the microwave for a while. I didn't eat any turkey anyway, just in case. This year someone else cooked.

A few months ago, the Sundancer went to Ryan's Steakhouse in Knoxville. They are a chain that I frequented several times a week before I retired. I genuinely enjoyed lunch there as I could pick and choose my selected carbs.

Twice I experienced getting fried chicken that was hot and crispy on the exterior and bloody on the inside. I informed the manager and his response was that he was sorry about that. I got on the internet and e-mailed the home office. I got a call from the regional manager who expressed dismay at the event and told me that the current process of cooking was flawed and that they would be changing methodology of cooking PDQ. He indicated that he would be sending me four free meals there. That never arrived.

They did change methods and since then, the chicken has been fine. In Knoxville, it is still the best American buffet around and their chicken is now fine if not superb.

Manager did bad, regional manager did bad but Ryan's is still good.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

quote:

Originally posted by linus

That dinner in the acidental tourist was too funny. cooking the thing over night at what, 200 degrees?

I haven't seen the movie, but my mother bought her turkey at a Dutch market this year, and the cooking suggestions sheet recommended cooking it at 200 overnight. She put it in (upside down, so the breast meat got the flow of juice. Apparently Emeril does this, too.) at 9:30 Wednesday night. We normally eat Thanksgiving dinner at dinnertime, rather than early in the day as some do. But this year the bird was done by early afternoon, although the instructions say it will be perfectly fine for 3-5 more hours. We ate at 4. It was juicy and delicious, and so well done it fairly fell off the bones, so there wound up being more turkey meat than usual because it was so easy to get off. So we finished up and were gone from Mom's house by 7, and she could rest and put her feet up for the evening.

A great meal, all around.

And no pink.

quote:

Originally posted by UncleVic

Bloody bird... Now thats about the nastiest thing I've heard in a long time... What a way to destroy ones festivus...

Oh well, sorry to hear of this incident. Poultry... I despise it.

This illustrates one reason I like to do my turkeys in electric roasters: nice, stable, even heat.

BillB, just bring 'em over to my house next Thanksgiving. I'm a turkey roastin' fool, and I promise not to stuff 'em with black bear dressin'.

quote:

Originally posted by redtressed

This illustrates one reason I like to do my turkeys in electric roasters: nice, stable, even heat.

BillB, just bring 'em over to my house next Thanksgiving. I'm a turkey roastin' fool, and I promise not to stuff 'em with black bear dressin'.

Curious now as to what the black bear dressin' is...

quote:

Adjudicator Posted - 11/27/2004 : 14:19:42
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quote:
Originally posted by redtressed

This illustrates one reason I like to do my turkeys in electric roasters: nice, stable, even heat.

BillB, just bring 'em over to my house next Thanksgiving. I'm a turkey roastin' fool, and I promise not to stuff 'em with black bear dressin'.



Curious now as to what the black bear dressin' is...

Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllll......One Thanksgiving many moons ago, we were having a pot luck Thanksgiving meal in my ER. I was in charge of doing 2 turkeys, a ham and a prime rib, as well as some sides. my usual ritual. Another gal was in for a turkey, also. The night before Thanksgiving, she fell and broke her arm, and her brother, a NEW chef, stepped in and prepared her dishes for the meal. He accompanied her to the ER the next day, bringing in his preparations,then left. She, having a rather chagrined look on her face, grabbed my arm and dragged me into my office. "Uhmmm we have a problem, I think." she wailed. She then dragged me into the ER kitchen. A rather odd scent was wafting through the air. She first showed me the "mashed" potatoes. Instead of the familiar spud, they were a puree of turnips, parsnips and kohlorabi, heavily redolent with garlic. Not the stuff to wear Turkey Gravy, but tasty enough. I still had no fear. Next was a casserole......containing rattlesnake meat. Not something I savor, but still would be a neat conversation piece. Then the piece' de resistance, the turkey. As she lifted the lid of the roaster.......a dark, earthy scent filled the room. I unavoidably wrinkled my nose at the unfamiliar strong aroma as I peered in the roaster. Perched on a mountain of very dark brown stuffing,was a VERY dark Wild Turkey, with a viscuous almost black sauce basting it's skin and a moat of brown grease surrounding the stuffing mountain. I looked at her, she looked at me. She trembled as she then spoke. "It's A Wild Turkey with Black Currant and Cider Sauce and Pumpernickel Stuffing with some Black Bear Sausage, Chuck made." Thus explained the grease and the aroma. For those of you, never fortunate enough to sample Black Bear, it's about as gamey a meat as there is, and the grease never ends......you can't boil it out, broil it out or squeeze it out, it just keeps a comin'. As for wild turkey, it is also very gamey, dark meat and most often very stringy. The place REALLY stunk. I looked at Ruth, nodded my head sagely and started paging some medical students and residents, a group well known for attacking departmental potlucks and dinners in search of free food. We told them to come immediately.....that soup was on. Ruth and I transferred the malodourous meal over to the conference room. Meanwhile....the stench was starting to sift through the department, patients were wincing, wondering what disease someone might have. The medical carrion began to arrive, swooping into the ER conference room and plundering the odiferous array. We were kind enough to set out a few of our more traditional sides as incentive. There were some curious looks and a few ....."what the hell is.............?" but within 15 minutues, all that remained was the bones and a bit of the grease pool. We revived our little gauze sponges we had taped around the department with some more peppermint oil.(Old hospital trick to mask odors of dirty stinky feet and such) and then took turns enjoying our more ermmmmmmm traditional feast.

GREAT story Red!....I say you have a million of them!....Keep em' coming!.....Still laughing in Eastern Kentucky....Tom B.

quote:

Originally posted by redtressed

quote:

Adjudicator Posted - 11/27/2004 : 14:19:42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:
Originally posted by redtressed

This illustrates one reason I like to do my turkeys in electric roasters: nice, stable, even heat.

BillB, just bring 'em over to my house next Thanksgiving. I'm a turkey roastin' fool, and I promise not to stuff 'em with black bear dressin'.



Curious now as to what the black bear dressin' is...

Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllll......One Thanksgiving many moons ago, we were having a pot luck Thanksgiving meal in my ER. I was in charge of doing 2 turkeys, a ham and a prime rib, as well as some sides. my usual ritual. Another gal was in for a turkey, also. The night before Thanksgiving, she fell and broke her arm, and her brother, a NEW chef, stepped in and prepared her dishes for the meal. He accompanied her to the ER the next day, bringing in his preparations,then left. She, having a rather chagrined look on her face, grabbed my arm and dragged me into my office. "Uhmmm we have a problem, I think." she wailed. She then dragged me into the ER kitchen. A rather odd scent was wafting through the air. She first showed me the "mashed" potatoes. Instead of the familiar spud, they were a puree of turnips, parsnips and kohlorabi, heavily redolent with garlic. Not the stuff to wear Turkey Gravy, but tasty enough. I still had no fear. Next was a casserole......containing rattlesnake meat. Not something I savor, but still would be a neat conversation piece. Then the piece' de resistance, the turkey. As she lifted the lid of the roaster.......a dark, earthy scent filled the room. I unavoidably wrinkled my nose at the unfamiliar strong aroma as I peered in the roaster. Perched on a mountain of very dark brown stuffing,was a VERY dark Wild Turkey, with a viscuous almost black sauce basting it's skin and a moat of brown grease surrounding the stuffing mountain. I looked at her, she looked at me. She trembled as she then spoke. "It's A Wild Turkey with Black Currant and Cider Sauce and Pumpernickel Stuffing with some Black Bear Sausage, Chuck made." Thus explained the grease and the aroma. For those of you, never fortunate enough to sample Black Bear, it's about as gamey a meat as there is, and the grease never ends......you can't boil it out, broil it out or squeeze it out, it just keeps a comin'. As for wild turkey, it is also very gamey, dark meat and most often very stringy. The place REALLY stunk. I looked at Ruth, nodded my head sagely and started paging some medical students and residents, a group well known for attacking departmental potlucks and dinners in search of free food. We told them to come immediately.....that soup was on. Ruth and I transferred the malodourous meal over to the conference room. Meanwhile....the stench was starting to sift through the department, patients were wincing, wondering what disease someone might have. The medical carrion began to arrive, swooping into the ER conference room and plundering the odiferous array. We were kind enough to set out a few of our more traditional sides as incentive. There were some curious looks and a few ....."what the hell is.............?" but within 15 minutues, all that remained was the bones and a bit of the grease pool. We revived our little gauze sponges we had taped around the department with some more peppermint oil.(Old hospital trick to mask odors of dirty stinky feet and such) and then took turns enjoying our more ermmmmmmm traditional feast.

Ahhhhhhhh. Hospital food............

Redtressed, you may serve me black bear dressing ANYTIME. Nothing good was ever easily achieved...

Never have tasted bear, but my grandfather liked it. Of course, he also told me that cougar was the best dish he'd ever eaten, period. My grandfather had...unusual...tastes in food. Wonder what he'd have thought of turducken?

.....would a bear cougar combination be a bougar?

Stop picking at your bougar, Bill.

Cross a cougar with a buffalo and get a cougalo?

That description was one of the most vile things I could imagine. I swear I can smell it. There are enough bad things to smell in the hospital! Ewww!

My turkey disaster occurred several years ago after I had gotten a smoker and became somewhat adept at it, I wanted to smoke a turkey for T-day. I did all the preparations, smoked it several hours, got the nice dark skin and presented it for supper. One cut and the red juice flowed out. Thinking this was part of the "smoke ring," I pressed on. I noticed something was amiss when the leg and thigh wouldn't separate, in fact, it was quite cool to the touch. No serving this. I tried to microwave portions, no luck. Back in the oven, made it too dry. We ended up going to a fancy restaurant that day. Turns out my smoking technique was flawed due to the cold, windy weather that day. The wind kept the smoker too cool, drawing heat from the cooking process. I learned my lesson that day.

I had a similar experience, years ago, only it was with pork ribs. Learned there's more to good barbecue than just building a fire...

Still remember my sister's first turkey. She cooked it with the giblet bag intact. Didn't realize the bird had TWO cavities to empty.