Holiday Cooking Disasters | iVillage.com: Thanksgiving Cooking Nightmares, and How to Avoid Them | Comcast.net

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iVillage.com: Thanksgiving Cooking Nightmares, and How to Avoid Them

Holiday Cooking Disasters

Even the best of us have bad days in the kitchen — including professional chefs like Bobby Flay and Gail Simmons. To help us all avoid some common holiday cooking mistakes, Harold McGee — author of Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes — responds to anecdotes from famous chefs and iVillage community members.

(Credit: Getty Images)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

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Holiday Cooking Disasters

Holiday Cooking ...

Even the best of us have bad days in the kitchen — including professional chefs like Bobby Flay and Gail Simmons. To help us all avoid some common holiday cooking mistakes, Harold McGee — author of Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes — responds to anecdotes from famous chefs and iVillage community members.

(Credit: Getty Images)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Predicament: Undercooked Stuffing

Predicament: Und...

"There was an incident with my mom—she made turkey and stuffed it. She cooked the turkey to 165 degrees Fahrenheit, but the stuffing didn’t make it that high—it was maybe 90 degrees. That happened, and everybody got sick."

—Claire Robinson

(Credit:Courtesy of the Food Network)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Solution: Cook Stuffing Separately

Solution: Cook S...

"The safest way to cook stuffing is to cook it thoroughly in a separate pan, not in the bird. Stuffing needs to be heated quickly to a minimum temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit, and if it's in the bird, that means that the bird itself will be much hotter, and therefore overcooked and dry."

—Harold McGee

(Credit:Courtesy of Paula Deen)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Predicament: Bad Birds

Predicament: Bad...

"On the morning of the big meal, I woke up and opened up 12 individually wrapped poussins, only to realize they had all gone bad. I had to run down to the grocery store, try to find some frozen turkeys, come back home and defrost them by running them under water in the sink."

—Bobby Flay

(Credit:Courtesy of the Food Network)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Solution: Pick a Fresh Bird

Solution: Pick a...

"To pick a fresh bird, try to buy it at the meat counter unwrapped. Look for an unbruised, bright skin and pink interior, and avoid birds with brown or dry patches. Ask to take a whiff: it should have little or no smell. If you have to buy prewrapped, check the appearance and the use-by date, and try to find the most recently packed bird. Don't buy the bird longer than a day or two before you'll cook it, and keep it in the coldest part of your refrigerator. If you buy a frozen bird, thaw it quickly and safely by immersing it in cold water."

—Harold McGee

(Credit: Getty Images)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Predicament: Multitasking Overload

Predicament: Mul...

"The morning after Thanksgiving, I was making breakfast with the leftovers. I was using the turkey and making a hash with potatoes and fried eggs, and I had a spatula with a plastic handle. I set it down in the pan and forgot about it for a minute, and the handle melted off the pan—then there was burning plastic all over the pan."

—Gail Simmons

(Credit:Courtesy of Bravo TV)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Solution: Set Timers and Make Lists

Solution: Set Ti...

"To make multitasking a little easier, find ways to remind yourself to check on the several things you're doing. Set timers to go off when you need to check on doneness of meats or vegetables. Make a list of your tasks, and read over it every few minutes. Get in the habit of stopping every few minutes to look around the kitchen for potential problems or things you've momentarily forgotten."

—Harold McGee

(Credit:Getty Images)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Predicament: Exploding Deep-Fried Turkeys

Predicament: Exp...

"You’ve got to be really careful doing the deep-fried turkeys. The mistake people make is they don’t know how much oil to put in there, so when they drop the turkey in fryer, the oil spills over and it catches on fire. And we’ve heard of people who put frozen turkey in there, and it more or less explodes."

-Jamie and Bobby Deen

(Credit:Getty Images)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Solution: Take Precautions with Deep Fryers

Solution: Take P...

"To deep-fry a turkey safely, be sure to follow the precautions that come with the turkey fryer. Hot oil is flammable and can cause serious burns. Always set up the fryer outdoors, on level ground, some distance from your building. Keep a fire extinguisher nearby. Fill the pot only partway with oil, to allow for the turkey's volume and for the bubbling and foaming of the hot oil during cooking. Use kitchen towels or oven mitts to handle the pot."

—Harold McGee

"A good way to avoid this is to fill the fryer with cold water. Dip your turkey in there, and you’ll have a good idea of how much oil you need."

—Jamie and Bobby Deen

(Credit:Image from "Good Eats 2: The Middle Years" By Alton Brown, courtesy of Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2010)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Predicament: Timing the Meal

Predicament: Tim...

"I made my entire family sick because the turkey finished earlier than expected, and it sat out for hours while I was waiting for everything else to finish cooking. Apparently it grew a small army of bacteria."

— cratebill, iVillage community member

(Credit:Kikkerland)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Solution: Keep Dishes Out of the Danger Zone

Solution: Keep D...

"If you cook some dishes hours ahead of time, then you need to keep them out of the temperature range in which bacteria grow, which is 40 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. So cover them and either keep them in a warm oven at 140 degrees or higher, or refrigerate them or keep them on ice in a cooler — or outside, if the weather is cold enough."

—Harold McGee

(Credit:Getty Images)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Predicament: Lumpy Gravy

Predicament: Lum...

"One Thanksgiving, my gravy came out so lumpy that my mother-in-law called it 'tapioca.' I will never live it down."

—cupcake61, iVillage community member

(Credit:Getty Images)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Solution: Make a Slurry

Solution: Make a...

"To avoid lumpy gravy, take one simple precaution: make sure that you mix the flour or starch with cold water into a thick slurry before adding it to the hot broth or pan juices. And cook the gravy with regular stirring and scraping, so that the thickener doesn't get overcooked on the pot bottom."

—Harold McGee

(Credit:Getty Images)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Holiday Cooking Hotlines

Holiday Cooking ...

For answers to all of your holiday cooking queries, try these two hotlines:

Crisco Pie Hotline: Call 1-877-FOR PIE TIPS if you need a little help baking your Thanksgiving pie. The line is open 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET year round, but hours are extended from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET from November 14-23 and December 12-22.

Butterball's Turkey Talk-Line: Call 1-800-BUTTERBALL or e-mail talkline@butterball.com throughout November and December. No question is too tough for these turkey talkers, and they are ready and excited to tackle any challenge you throw at them.

(Credit:Getty Images)

The Full Story from iVillage.com

iVillage

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Thanksgiving Des... Click here to see great Thanksgiving desserts.

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