So the turkey never got fully cooked...

[Anonymous]

But everyone got so hungry, they carved off the cooked parts and ate that for dinner. The remainder was carved up slightly raw/underdone and put in the fridge. Is it safe to eat tomorrow if we cook it for another hour or so?

[Anonymous]

No. You need to throw it away and hope no one gets sick.

[Anonymous]

Ditto. As someone who has had food poisoning from poultry, I really, really hope no one gets it from your turkey. I was nearly hospitalized and needed a bunch of IV fluids. Do not eat underdone poultry. Ever.

[Anonymous]

Hey, I didn't make anyone eat an undercooked turkey! Everyone who had some was a grown up who chose to eat it, knowing full well that the inside hadn't reached the final high temp. My question is about the leftovers - why wouldn't any bacteria be killed off if we kept cooking it? Its all cut up into pieces, so why wouldn't an hour at 350 or 400 take care of any problems?

[Anonymous]

If you left an undercooked turkey out on a table the typical 2 hours as we do at my house, there's a good chance that the bad bacteria that didn't get killed, would multiply rapidly throughout the remains of the turkey. You then put it back in the fridge overnight, but until the turkey got down to 40 degrees, the bad bacteria would continue to multiply. At ome point the turkey would get cold enough that the bacteria would stop growing, but they are still there.

In the morning, if you cut up the turkey and cook the heck out of it, again, you'd kill a lot of the bacteria -- but since you left it out for those 2 hours there's a good chance there's a LOT more bad bacteria than usual in that turkey at this point, and you can't count on cooking to kill all of it. Cooking kills MOST of the bacteria, but there will always be some that doesn't get killed (close to the bone, etc.)

More bacteria = more room for error. Also bacteria don't increasea in a nice steady progression -- 2, 4,6,8 etc. they increase exponentially....2,4,16, 32,64.... you've seen how large those numbers get quickly, right?

When you are talking about a fully cooked turkey, left out on the counter for 2 hours, and then put back in the fridge, the bacteria hasn't gotten a chance to get so dangerously high. But if you are starting with an undercooked turkey to begin with -- the numbers will get very high. Even if you kill most of them there will still be enough to make people dangerously sick.

I'm a big risk taker and not a worry wart, but in this case I'd just toss the turkey. Send someone out to the grocery store, buy a turkey breast, and just cook that up in an hour and slice it for leftovers and such. Less than $10 total for sure, and you'll have peace of mind.

[Anonymous]

Always use a meat thermometer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Always use a meat thermometer.

And stick it in the deepest part of the thigh without touching bone. NOT the breast (as many people do), which is warmer.

[Anonymous]

I would throw it out, not worth the risk.

[Anonymous]

We were using a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh - that's how we know it was 5 degrees less than it should have been. I think the advice to toss it makes sense. Its a sad waste of turkey, but I guess that doesn't matter now. My vote was to keep cooking it last night so it would be good for leftovers today, and just eat the sides, but I got outvoted. Thanks for the advice!

[Anonymous]

When you say it was 5 degree under - was the meat red?
My thermometer was not working properly last night. According to mine it said the turkey was half cooked but it was clearly falling off the bone and cooked through. All of the meat was white with no pink.

[Anonymous]

This is disgusting.

[Anonymous]

I would have microwave the hack out of it last night before eating it!

[Anonymous]

Throw away the turkey and go to McDonalds for lunch

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were using a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh - that's how we know it was 5 degrees less than it should have been. I think the advice to toss it makes sense. Its a sad waste of turkey, but I guess that doesn't matter now. My vote was to keep cooking it last night so it would be good for leftovers today, and just eat the sides, but I got outvoted. Thanks for the advice!

Aw now.... I'm the poster who wrote about the bacteria -- only 5 degrees underbooked? Now I'd probably keep it. I thought you were talking about a vestly undercooked turkey... like still pink in the middle.

How hot did it get? 175 degrees?

[Anonymous]

*undercooked