Cooking a turkey just right has a lot to do with temperature, says a local, 11-year meat cutter.
Myles Gottschalk currently works at Nesters Market. Turkeys need to cook at 350 degrees and usually for 20 minutes a pound, he says, and using a meat thermometer really helps.
“It saves your butt because a lot of times, some cook a little hotter or cook a little less,” he explains. “When you take the bird out of the oven, it will still cook for five to 10 minutes as you’re letting it cool.”
His trick is to bring it just above temperature right before and then let it cool off. Gottschalk says choosing a bird all comes down to personal preference. Some just want a cheap bird. But he’s noticed most people these days want to know what farm the bird came from and if it was ethically or humanely killed.
Tracey Robertson is a Squamish livestock farmer and owner of Stony Mountain Farms. Her turkeys are slow grown and free to roam outside.
She says you can’t go by the “look of the bird,” you have to go by temperature.
“Our turkey meat will remain pink. If you go by appearances you’re gonna overcook it,” she adds and that’s where the traditional dryness of turkey comes in. “If you’re buying a good quality bird, it’s completely different.”
For starters, cooking times are less — 10 to 15 minutes a pound for free range birds. And Robertson says the meat is darker and more flavourful.
“The fat marbelizes through the meat and you’re not cooking off a bunch of water,” Robertson explains, adding this is because she doesn’t overfeed her turkeys.
Her secret seasoning is simple — garlic powder, cumin, chilis, oregano, salt and pepper.
“The flavour of a bird will always come down to the quality,” she says. “And I know they aren’t cheap.”
But they taste better, says Robertson. “When you support a smaller farm, it shows the ethics of how that animal has been raised and their welfare.”
