AIBU to not wash the turkey?

[whoknows1230]

My first time cooking a turkey this year and both my mum and MIL have told me that they wash their turkey then pat it dry with kitchen roll apparently concentrating on the cavity as it needs to be completely dry.

I thought rinsing poultry was a thing of the past or will I be making a huge mistake if I don’t do this?

I’m already a bit nervous about cooking it as everyone seems to do it differently and thinks their way is best.

I was just going to lay bacon over the breast, season it and then stuff it with a couple of onions and lemons, then baste it every 30 minutes. Will it be awful if I do that?

Don’t wash it, cooking it will clean it.

No, don’t wash it. Any harmful bacteria that washing would supposedly get rid of would be killed when you cook it.

Nope. It’s not the surface that has germs or whatever, it’s the whole thing. So washing it spreads it all about. The way to get rid is to cook it properly.

I thought the same as you - washing is not necessary. It's the cooking that will destroy bacteria and washing just risks spreading them.

Just wack it through the dishwasher OP

I thought washing poultry was worse than not?

Omg. Don't wash the turkey unless you want to give the gift of salmonella that it'll disperse around the sink

They advise against washing now, you spread bacteria

Don't wash it. Do pat it dry with a paper towel though and season it and wrap with bacon and then leave it to air dry in the fridge overnight

Cooking will kill any germs. That's the main point of it.

Waahing will just spread them all over your kitchen.

You absolutely shouldn’t wash it. It risks spreading campylobacter.
I once saw a documentary and they coated the poultry with some sort of solution that can only be seen with a UV light or something.
They then had the person wash and prepare the meat ready to cook and then showed up where all the tiny, unseen, splashes were. There was contamination all over the kitchen in the end from the tap, counters, tea towel, oven handle and knobs, fridge -it was everywhere!

I have been cooking Xmas turkey for forty years now, and have never washed it.

Left the giblets in a couple of times though. Didn't poison anyone with that, either.

I wouldn't baste every 30 mins either. Your oven will keep cooling down and the turkey will take ages to cook.

Don't wash it

There is nothing some tap temperature water is going to kill off that the oven can't handle

So if you put it straight in the oven that will kill any bacteria

However if you wash it you will be splashing bacteria around your sink which will not have the benefit of being heated up to 180 degrees or whatever temperature you are cooking it at and instead will create a lovely room temperature bacteria soup around your sink ready for someone to put a plate on or wipe their hand through without noticing

Washing a turkey - as in running it under the tap - is not a good thing to do and just splashes salmonella and campylobacter all over the kitchen.

Cook it as you planned. Do NOT wash it!

Don’t wash it. Oven of 200c will kill any bacteria. Washing spreads harmful bacteria around your sink area.

It's very old fashioned advice these days. My mum used to always wash a chicken- filled it with water and patted dry leaving the sink splashed with chicken water
Loosen the skin on the breast and shove seasoned butter over- then plenty of salt and pepper over the while thing- wrap in bacon and job done. Hot oven kills off any bacteria. I've cooked hundreds of chickens in my time as I'm getting on a bit and never poisoned anyone.

No need to wash any poultry OP, it's an old habit that's no longer recommended

Thank you so much, that is completely unanimous so I definitely won’t be washing it!!

I’ve not heard of putting butter under the skin but I can see how that would help make it moist

That made me giggle 😂

Never ever wash chicken or turkey at home , any salmonella will just spray about the kitchen

I dont have a high heated house, kitchen in quite cold, so I get mine out of the fridge before bed, removing the giblets and neck and allow to "air dry" over night and come to room temp - whole turkeys do take a while

And your ideas on cooking are spot on, protect the breast, baste often, and fill the cavity with aromatics

I also let it rest for a good hour whilst the rest of the veg is getting cooked, allows the juices to reabsorb . Been cooking Turkey for 45 years, never had a dry one, never poisoned anyone

Well I'm glad I read this. I still follow the instructions from my 1980's recipe book & wash the turkey inside & out. Now I know & it saves me a job.

Washing poultry is the norm in some cultures. But not white british. And there appear to be plenty of white British around still so can’t have killed each other off through salmonella etc. It’s fine. Just bung it in the oven, as directed.

Explicitly said on the instructions for our Waitrose turkey NOT to wash it