For those hosting their first Thanksgiving dinner over the weekend, it can seem like a monumental task, but a food expert is giving tips to remember when preparing a turkey dinner. Food safety is important when preparing a dinner for guests, and the first thing many people get wrong is thawing their turkey on the counter. “The best place to thaw your turkey is in the refrigerator, and a general rule of thumb is to allow 24 hours for every five pounds of turkey, so if you’ve got a big turkey, we need to get planning. That’s going to take a couple days to thaw in the refrigerator,” said registered dietitian Laurie Barker Jackman in an interview with CTV Atlantic’s Maria Panopalis. “We need to always practice proper hand washing so warm water with soap at least 20 to 30 seconds and then making sure that we’re using different cutting boards for raw food and different ones for cooked food, not cutting our vegetables on the same cutting board, all of these things are super important to prevent cross contamination. Food-borne illness is a real thing and it’s pretty scary.” Cooking the turkey can cause its own set of problems: if it’s overcooked it’ll be dry, but undercooking it can be even worse. Barker Jackman recommends all hosts get a food thermometer. “What you want to do is you want to take it and insert it in the thickest part of the turkey, make sure it’s not touching any bone, and you want to reach an internal temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit or 82 degrees Celsius,” she said. “If you have a dressing in the turkey, that also has to reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit or 74 degrees Celsius, very important.” Barker Jackman says once the turkey is served, it should not be out for more than two hours. “Past that time we want to get it in the fridge. If we’re having a gathering and it’s lasting longer than that, investing in some warming trays or keeping some trays with ice, so keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold,” she said. “The danger-zone temperature is between four and 60 degrees Celsius, 40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, foods cannot sit in that so two hours is the limit and then in the fridge.” With Thanksgiving dinner comes plenty of leftovers, but just because it’s in the fridge doesn’t mean it’s safe. Barker Jackman says leftovers should only be in the fridge for a few days. “We want to cool our food in shallow, long containers, for two to three days, enjoy your leftovers, it’s my favourite part of Thanksgiving, and then freeze them if you’re not going to eat them in that time. When you reheat it, make sure you get it to 165 degrees Fahrenheit or 74 degrees Celsius,” she said.
