Anyone Dutch Oven a turkey?

I have cooked whole chickens in my Dutch ovens and have been pleased with the results, So Thursday is Thanksgiving and I am responsible for the turkey. There well be at least twenty people and I usually smoke a turkey on the outdoor smoker. It's too late to change plans now but I was wondering if anyone had cooked one in a Dutch oven. The turkey should be small, about ten lbs or less, and the Dutch oven needs to be a big one. I like turkey and think this might be a good plan. Anyway, has anyone done this? How did it turn out. Thinking about this is making me hungry. David
 
The last two posts are the same thing, another overcooked turkey. To me the perfect turkey is a stuffed and lightly smoked bird, without the stuffing being smoked, and with the white meat at 145° F and the dark meat at 165° F.

It is complicated, but it can be done. It requires techniques taken form spatchcocking, barbecuing/smoking and baking. Cut the bird into the major joints, smoke it with it’s feet to the fire, stuff it and bake ‘till done. Tie it back up with thread for presentation. Details are self taught.

Hilditch
 
Video and last link are the same guy. 180°F internal is too high for turkey, and you can see in the carving segment the white meat is not juicy at all and is hard to pull the carving fork out of. Turkey is best brined, roasted unstuffed, and taken to an internal of 161°F measured in the breast. Residual heat will take it to 165, maybe a little higher, and that's fine, the brine gives several degrees margin for error. Dark meat cooks faster than white, so when the breast reaches 165, the thigh should be about 10 degrees higher, which is what you want. Breaking the thigh joint before cooking can help it to better cook through. Carve by slicing off each half of the breast in one large piece, then slice medallions across the grain. 145/165 in the breast/thigh noted above may technically be safe, but most will not find it palatable.
 
Video and last link are the same guy. 180°F internal is too high for turkey, and you can see in the carving segment the white meat is not juicy at all and is hard to pull the carving fork out of. Turkey is best brined, roasted unstuffed, and taken to an internal of 161°F measured in the breast. Residual heat will take it to 165, maybe a little higher, and that's fine, the brine gives several degrees margin for error. Dark meat cooks faster than white, so when the breast reaches 165, the thigh should be about 10 degrees higher, which is what you want. Breaking the thigh joint before cooking can help it to better cook through. Carve by slicing off each half of the breast in one large piece, then slice medallions across the grain. 145/165 in the breast/thigh noted above may technically be safe, but most will not find it palatable.

I agree with this one, though I smoke it (at 350 degrees to crisp the skin, instead of "low and slow"). But brining, roasting unstuffed, cooking temps, and carving tips are spot-on.

Note a "self basting" turkey is already brined.
 
Note a "self basting" turkey is already brined.
Yeah, but I prefer to do it myself. You can actually flavor brine a self-basting turkey, but it needs to be kept short, like a few hours.

Low and slow isn't the best course of action with turkey. You're not rendering fat and gelatinizing connective tissue like you are with barbecue meats. 12-14 pounds or more of cold bird in a smoker cooking at 225-250 spends too much time in the danger zone (40-140F), and it really ends up drying out the white meat.
 
Cook the turkey with the breast side down. Sounds weird but the dark meat over the Brest helps greatly with keeping the white meat moist. I do it for smoked turkey and chickens Turn and brown the top before serving.
 
Yeah, but I prefer to do it myself. You can actually flavor brine a self-basting turkey, but it needs to be kept short, like a few hours.

Low and slow isn't the best course of action with turkey. You're not rendering fat and gelatinizing connective tissue like you are with barbecue meats. 12-14 pounds or more of cold bird in a smoker cooking at 225-250 spends too much time in the danger zone (40-140F), and it really ends up drying out the white meat.

My uncle will smoke turkeys "low and slow" and they actually come out surprisingly well, despite the rubbery skin.

But yes I always smoke poultry, turkey or otherwise, at 350F.

The "temperature danger zone", though, is called so because that's the temperature range where any bacterial contamination such as salmonella will reproduce and further contaminate the meat. But if it's above 160F when it's said and done, any bacteria will have been killed. The TDZ more applies to holding food after it's been cooked. Or at least that's what the county taught me when I was food manager certified once upon a time.
 
Every turkey breast I’ve ever had that went to 165° F was dry and NEEDED gravy. Stuffing out of the turkey tastes more good.

Hilditch
 
The "temperature danger zone", though, is called so because that's the temperature range where any bacterial contamination such as salmonella will reproduce and further contaminate the meat. But if it's above 160F when it's said and done, any bacteria will have been killed.
It is the toxins in the waste produced by the bacteria that are responsible for food-borne illness. Heat will kill the bacteria, but will not neutralize the toxin.
 
It is the toxins in the waste produced by the bacteria that are responsible for food-borne illness. Heat will kill the bacteria, but will not neutralize the toxin.

Yes and no. It is true that the waste toxins are what create the symptoms, but regarding food-borne illness it depends on the bacteria. Botulism, for example, is caused as you described, by eating food contaminated by the toxin created by the bacteria, even if all the bacteria are dead.

But salmonella, the most common poultry contaminant, does not create food-borne illness that way. It creates it via infection, where you consume a large enough dose of the bacteria that some survive the acidic stomach and enter the small intestine and multiply. They then need an incubation period of 6 to 72 hours before they begin releasing toxins and make you sick, which typically takes 12 to 36 hours.

But having a salmonella-tainted bird in the TDZ for a longer period of time while slowly cooking as we're describing will not make you sick, as long as you cook to the proper final temp. The amount of time we're talking about does not give them the opportunity to incubate and produce sufficient toxin; you must get infected by live bacteria.

On the other hand, the other subject mentioned of stuffing the bird is a different story. The risk with that is salmonella-containing juices from the bird can drip down into the stuffing, and then though the bird is cooked to a safe temperature, the stuffing in the center may not reach the same temp and the salmonella survive, creating an infection when consumed. Cooking your stuffing separately is the safe practice.

Of course, not all birds are contaminated. You could undercook and be just fine, if your bird is clean. But there's no way to tell in advance, outside of a lab test. The concept behind safe food handling practices is to treat all food as if it were contaminated, so in case you get a piece that actually is, you'll be safe.
 
The important point is that one should not assume they can avoid any food-borne illness by simply cooking to a "safe" temperature.
 
Doug’s quote: “145/165 in the breast/thigh noted above may technically be safe, but most will not find it palatable.”

You are right Doug. Ninety some percent of Americans have not enjoyed a tender moist turkey breast in many, many years that wasn’t shot up with 15% or more water to keep it moist upon over cooking it. As the old phobias fade even white meat can be enjoyed tender, naturally juicy and with a touch of pink by those of us willing to step outside the overly cautious box.

Hilditch
 
Most have not enjoyed properly cooked, moist turkey meat because they have relied upon a pop-up timer in the breast that activates at 180°F. Add in carry over cooking from residual heat, and not even brining or pumping can save that. Turkey brined and taken to 161°F (165 final) in the breast will be safely cooked, juicy, and palatable to all. But, hey, if you enjoy watching your guests recoil at the sight of pink poultry and bloody-looking thigh joints, go right ahead. If your turkey white meat cooked to 165 is dry, you need to check your thermometer in boiling water for accuracy.
 
I cook my turkey in the biggest dutch oven Lodge makes, have every year since I bought it, and it turns out great! I cant wait to do it again, I would highly recommend it.
 
Todays smoked and half stuffed turkey. During resting the breast got to 145° F and the thigh got to 160°. This turkey was not shot up with anything and was not put in a brine. It only took me 40 tries to get it right over the years.

There was no dismay or guest recoil at the pink meat around the wing joints. There were no bloody looking joints. Just compliments on the juiciness (one can see it running out of breast in the pic) and the tenderness. This isn’t the birds best pose, but it shows what I’ve stated here and remember any traces of pink you see is just protein that hasn’t been cooked to death. Just like in a steak.



Hilditch
 
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