With Christmas just
around the corner, we start to think of the
delicious food this time of year brings. And whether
cooking for yourself, family, friends or relations,
safefood are reminding you to listen to the voice of
food safety this Christmas and remember focus on
“The 4C’s” of food safety - cooking, cleaning,
chilling, and avoiding cross-contamination.
Cleaning
Ahead of the festive rush give your fridge a good
clean with warm soapy water.
Good food safety means knowing where bacteria are
likely to thrive and not giving them a chance to get
comfortable. Regular cleaning of worktops, chopping
boards and any surfaces that come into contact with
food is important to prevent the spread of bacteria.
Proper cleaning requires hot soapy water and a good
scrub.
Cooking
When preparing raw meat and poultry, it’s best to
handle it as little as possible. With turkey, unpack
it directly into a roasting tray before placing it
straight in the oven. Remember that you don’t need
to wash turkey at Christmas as this can actually
spread germs around your kitchen through drips,
drops and splashes - proper cooking will actually
kill any germs present. If you do need to clean the
bird, wipe it with a disposable paper towel,
discarding the used paper towel and any packaging
directly in to the bin. You should always wash your
hands thoroughly with warm soapy water and dry with
a clean hand towel before and after you handle the
bird,
Raw poultry and meat can contain germs like
Salmonella and Campylobacter, so it’s important to
cook these foods thoroughly. Cover the bird with
tinfoil during cooking as this helps the bird to
cook more evenly and gives a more “juicy” product.
The turkey should be basted every hour during
cooking (the tinfoil can be removed for the last
half hour to finally brown the skin).
With an unstuffed turkey, you can check whether it’s
thoroughly cooked by using a clean fork or skewer to
pierce the thickest part of the breast meat (between
the leg and breast) – once the juices run clear,
there is no pink meat left and the turkey is piping
hot all the way through, then it’s properly cooked
and ready to serve up.
Different ovens can have different performance
characteristics and it’s important to bear in mind
that even when ovens are correctly adjusted, the
presence of other items in the oven, or frequent
opening and closing of the oven door can make an
oven less effective and extra cooking time may be
needed.
Don’t “rush” to carve the stuffed cooked bird - one
way of making sure that the stuffing is properly
cooked, without risking overcooking the meat, is to
remove the turkey from the oven when the meat is
fully cooked, and leave it to rest for half an hour
covered in tinfoil.
Remember that with stuffed turkeys, you should allow
extra cooking time as safefood research has shown
that when a turkey is stuffed in the body cavity, it
is the centre of the stuffing that is slowest to
cook. So for stuffed turkeys, it is essential you
check the stuffing itself is piping hot all the way
through as well as making sure the meat at the
thickest part of the breast is cooked thoroughly
before serving.
Stuffing is great at Christmas and whether its
breadcrumb, sausage meat or your own favourite
recipe, always remember:
Prepare the stuffing just before cooking
Try not to overstuff your bird; use only 10% of the
weight of the bird in stuffing e.g. 500g stuffing
for a 5kg turkey
Allow extra cooking time for stuffed birds ( to help
you calculate this, go to
www.safefood.eu
)
Check that stuffing is piping hot all the way
through before serving.
Chilling - Love those leftovers
Leftover turkey and ham should be covered and stored
in the fridge within two hours of cooking – you can
help cool it down by cutting it into smaller pieces.
Once refrigerated, it should be eaten within three
days. If you want to freeze stuffing or Christmas
meats, wrap them in heavy freezer wrap and put in a
container suitable for your freezer.
When reheating Christmas leftovers, turkey and
stuffing should be reheated until they are piping
hot all the way through. Food should never be
reheated more than once and leftover gravy or soup
should be brought to a rolling boil.
Avoid Cross-contamination
Germs that cause food poisoning can easily spread in
your kitchen – following these steps will prevent
this from happening:
- Re-arrange the shelves to make room for your
turkey - remember to store it on the bottom shelf so
any drips won’t land on ready to eat foods which
could spread germs leaving these foods unsafe to
eat.
- Don’t mix ready-to-eat foods with raw foods when
in the kitchen
- Make sure to wash your hands properly with soap
and water
- Wash kitchen utensils and work surfaces properly
that come into contact with food |
