Roast chook

[BRP]

Just after advice on the "perfect" roast chook.

I did one last night and it was beautiful however the meat close to the breast bone was still quite pink. I had put my digital thermometer into the breast but wondering if I should have placed it elsewhere? maybe even closer to the bone?

It still tasted wonderful though!

[Livewire]

They always say to check on the inside thigh of a turkey as it ic close to a big bone and as well as the breast so same would apply to the chooks

Glenn

[titch]

They always say to check on the inside thigh of a turkey as it ic close to a big bone and as well as the breast so same would apply to the chooks

Glenn

Sounds like going to a nightclub doesn;t it

[Amfibius]

Yup. thickest part of the thigh. What temp are you cooking the meat to?

[Papou]

BRP, Like lamd Chooks also do some frothing when near ready..thats one way of knowing they are just about there as well as that golden brown colour along with a smidgeon of what looks like a wee bit of burning on the skin....Legs a re a good giveaway as they look like wanting to part with the rest of the body lol...

[BRP]

Thanks everyone I will try another one this week and pop my thermometer into the thigh this time.

Papou no idea on temp as I don't have the model with inbuilt thermometer

I'm a bit keen to try a turkey in it also - I reckon there is probably a few still available at the moment

[Davo]

BRP,

It's best to probe it in between the leg and body on the inside area as this is where it's last to be done....but the breast may come up to temp before this happens leaving you with a drier breat area.
Theres a few techniques to stop this happenning, first probe the breast and when it reaches about 80C internal foil it and keep it away from the hotter end of the bbq till the leg end cooks...then you probe the inside of the leg area untill it reaches 83C take it off and let it rest before carving.
You could also cold pack the breast area with one of those ice bricks for a while to make the breast colder than the rest of the chook before cooking which then will slow the process of it's done ness.

It is said the safest temp for a chicken is 83C but I usually take it off around 80C and never had an issue with pinkness.

Also sometimes if you use wood for smoking the chicken while cooking, the smoke will make the outer flsh look pinkish...nothing to worry about if the bird is at the required temp.

The very best way is to wet brine the bird for 12 hours before cooking....by using the brine, it will allow more moisture to soak into the flesh and keep it moist till the end and it'll also make the chicken taste more like chicken...if that makes sense....1 tablespoon of salt per litre of water and you can chuck in a few herbs or garlic etc to flavour the brine. make sure the salt is well desolved first before adding chook.

Cheers

Davo

[bodgy]

Davo, does a brined chook need to cook to a higher temp than the 74C recommended for poultry by the authories?

http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/con ... correctly/

[Captain Cook]

Davo, does a brined chook need to cook to a higher temp than the 74C recommended for poultry by the authories?

http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/con ... correctly/

Hi Bodgy

74C is the minimum recommended temperature, this relates to the 165F as recommended by the US FDA.

83 c is also a recommended temperature but I can not find the source of that now.
I always brine my chooks and cook to 80-83C.
The problem with cooking to a minimum safe temp is that you can't guarantee that it is at least the minimum temp throughout.

The pink colour next to the bone on brined chooks is the juices from the marrow that is held there by the salt in the cells surrounding the bone and not an indication of undercooking.

Cheers

Capt'n

[Davo]

I personally would not eat a chicken at 74C because in my experience, theres still blood on the bone of a chicken at that temp.

It was known as 83C for a long time but maybe thoughts have changed on this...

I can't see how it was well documented before that chicken or any poultry is supposed to be cooked to 83C....now it is 74C?? is that a mistake on their part? don't know....why the sudden change in this....if a chicken was safe before at 83C....why the drastic change...I think it's messin' with fire myself and I don't ever want anyone getting crook at my bbqs so I'll go with 80-83C.

If it's brined, cooking till the 80 to 83C mark will still find it very moist and tender....so I'll go for that...but will never go for 74C

Cheers

Davo

[Amfibius]

I think 83C is way too high. Last night I cooked a chicken breast sous-vide to 60C, then finished it on the grill. It was perfect - no pink anywhere.

Dark meat needs to be cooked to a higher temp. I have seen recommendations between 65C and 70C, but 70C works for me. I haven't tried the lower temp.

[Davo]

I think 83C is way too high. Last night I cooked a chicken breast sous-vide to 60C, then finished it on the grill. It was perfect - no pink anywhere.

Dark meat needs to be cooked to a higher temp. I have seen recommendations between 65C and 70C, but 70C works for me. I haven't tried the lower temp.

Ya reckon??? I've cooked many a chook whether it'd be roasted or slow smoked and the flesh has always be mouthwatering after taking off at 80-83C....so buggered if I know.....70C internal for a chicken is way too low ....but like everything else...personal preference I guess, but we've gotta be careful Amfibius because those who are new and learning about the temps of different meat, unless previously experienced, best to go for the higher score of at least 80C to be super-safe coz we don't want our members becoming crook. Beef and lamb is one thing but poultry has a lot of different issues.

Cheers

Davo

[magste]

I searched quickly around the USDA & other web sites trying to find an explanation to the 165F (74C) vs 83C change in recommendation, but failed to find an answer. The closest I got was from here, http://busycooks.about.com/od/chickenre ... chixbr.htm.

"Many experts recommend that chicken breast meat must be cooked to an internal temperature of 170 degrees F (77C), but others say 160 degrees F (71C) is fine. You will have moister chicken if you cook to 160 degrees F. According to Dr. O. Peter Snyder, the chicken has to reach a temperature of 160 degrees F for 5.2 seconds to kill pathogens. Now the USDA is recommending that, because of bird flu fears, chicken should be cooked to a temperature of 165 degrees F. Remember that the meat will continue to cook after it's removed from the heat; the internal temperature will rise about 5-10 degrees in the first few minutes it's off the heat. "

BTW here is an interesting article on bloody chickens.. http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Bloody-chik.html from the website of the Dr Snyder mentioned above. I especially like the conclusion "If consumers were taught to eat safely prepared, bloody chicken, as they want to do with beef, they would be able to enjoy juicier chicken."

[Amfibius]

Ya reckon??? I've cooked many a chook whether it'd be roasted or slow smoked and the flesh has always be mouthwatering after taking off at 80-83C....so buggered if I know.....70C internal for a chicken is way too low ....but like everything else...personal preference I guess, but we've gotta be careful Amfibius because those who are new and learning about the temps of different meat, unless previously experienced, best to go for the higher score of at least 80C to be super-safe coz we don't want our members becoming crook. Beef and lamb is one thing but poultry has a lot of different issues.

Hi Davo, I hear what you are saying about food safety with chooks. I read a few cookbooks where the recommended temp was 65C ... and then 60C ... and I could not believe it. I dared not cook that low in case it was undercooked and the meat was still pink. I can tell you that breast meat is just cooked at 60C with no pinkness at all. With dark meat, I am not so sure because I am still experimenting. I suppose if it turns out too pink I could give it a quick blast in the microwave

[bodgy]

According to the following extract from AmazingRibs, low temp for long time the kills the bugs just as dead as a short blast at high temp

http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/chic ... urkey.html
Quote "USDA wants to keep things simple for us in order to keep us safe. Admirable. What USDA doesn't tell us is that microbes start croaking at about 130°F. In fact you can kill them all at 130°F, but it will take about 2 hours at that temp. Chefs who cook sous vide (the ultimate low and slow cooking) know this. They put turkey in plastic bags, vacuum seal them, and place them in water baths at 130 to 150°F for 2 hours and the results are incredibly tender, tasty, and safe. But most of us don't have sous vide water bath cookers.

The hotter the food gets, the faster the bugs die. You can pasteurize your turkey at 130°F in 2 hours or at 165°F in 2 seconds, hence the USDA recommended minimum of 165°F. What the USDA doesn't tell you is that you can kill them all if you heat the bird to 160°F for 7 seconds, 155°F for 23 seconds, or 145°F for about 4 minutes.

In 2011, for the first time, USDA gave a nod to the concept that time and temp work together to make food safe when it revised the recommended temp for pork. They lowered it to 145°F for 3 minutes."