The Truth About Turkey

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All along, turkey has been associated to once a year family feasts. You know, the Thanksgiving turkey. The Christmas turkey. Roast turkey stuffed with some
yummy stuffing, eaten with gravy or cranberry sauce is a must for the end of the year celebrations.

The fact is, turkey is such a healthy meat, it should not be reserved ONLY for Christmas and Thanksgiving. You should have turkey as part of your daily
diet. Especially the breast meat of the turkey, without the skin.

Why?

3 reasons.
1. Turkey meat has a very high protein content
2. Turkey meat itself has low fat content.
3. Turkey can be really delicious. My mom cooks a fantastic roast turkey.

Here are 2 of her roast turkey
recipes. http://www.allkitchen.info/turkey.htm .

Protein.

Ok, so we can get lots of protein from meat, fish and soya beans. Sure, beef packs plenty of protein that you body needs, but red meats are high in cholesterol.

For example, 1 oz of turkey contains between 15 mg and 24 mg cholesterol while 1 oz of beef contains 20 and 30mg of cholesterol. It all adds up to a large difference in artery clogging cholesterol between beef and turkey. That means if you have heart disease or high blood pressure, switching from beef to turkey can make a big difference.

As for protein, USA Poultry and Egg Export Council billed turkey as the perfect protein. It has more protein than chicken, or even a top loin beef steak.

That makes turkey the ideal food for growing children, athletes and anyone who wants lean muscle.

Fat.

Most of the fat in poultry is found in the skin. That means, by trimming off the skin in chicken or turkey, you remove most of the fat. Beef, pork and lamb on the other hand have the fat embedded in the meat itself. So just by switching to poultry alone, and removing the skin, you effectively remove most of the fat.

In fact, 3 ounces of skinless, boneless turkey breast contains a mere 1g of fat and no saturated fat. That is a weight watcher’s dream. This is about as healthy as you get.

This makes turkey the ideal meat for anyone who wants to stay slim, yet eat to his or her heart’s content, without consuming much fat. Still even if you do switch to turkey, watch your portion size. Double the amount you eat and you will still gain weight.

The flip side is the lack of fat in turkey meat compromises the taste. After all, the yummiest food contain fat. Fat flavors food.

Then again, with the right seasoning, gravy and all, turkey can be delicious.

Just try my mom’s recipes like her roast turkey with rice stuffing http://www.allkitchen.info/turkey-rice-recipe.php or the roast turkey with bread crumb stuffing http://www.allkitchen.info/turkey-breadcrumb-recipe.php . It is time to switch to something healthy and yummy.. like turkey.

How to Carve a Turkey

To someone who is just learning to cook, this topic may seem like one of the hardest meals you will ever have to prepare. Needless to say, if you’re having a turkey there’s usually company involved which means a number of hungry people are relying on you to prepare a great meal. This can be very intimidating. Luckily we have all the information you need, in order to ensure a great meal for you, your friends and your family.

In order to successfully carve a turkey, you will need to have the following pieces of equipment:

• One warm serving platter
• A pair of kitchen scissors
• An electric knife or a large slicing knife (you may want to choose a manual knife since they provide more control than electric ones)
• A small carving knife or fork for arranging and serving the meat

Now that you have the equipment you need to carve the turkey, follow these steps in order to become a turkey carving expert:

1. Leave the turkey to sit 20-30 minutes after roasting and before carving. This will make the meat moister and easier to cut.

2. After the turkey has sat for the time indicated above, transfer the turkey onto a cutting board; this is where you will begin carving the turkey.

3. Remove the Leg: To do this, hold the drumstick firmly with your fingers and gently pull the meat away from the body of the turkey. While doing this, cut through the skin between the leg and the body. Next, cut through the joint joining the leg to the backbone. Then separate the drumstick and thigh by cutting downwards through the joint, until the knife hits the cutting board.

4. Slicing the Drumstick (Leg) Meat: Once you have detached the leg from the rest of the body, you will want to slice the meat. Hold the drumstick in an upright position and turn the drumstick in a circular motion while cutting downwards. This will produce tasty slices of meat which are approximately equal size.

5. Slicing the Thigh Meat: When slicing thigh meat, you want to hold it close to the plate and secure it so it does not move. For best results when cutting thigh meat, make sure your knife is parallel to the bone and cut downwards towards the plate in slow, steady motions.

6. Slicing the Breast Meat: Make a deep cut into the breast of the turkey towards the body frame, as close to the wing as you can. Starting at the front of the turkey (about halfway up the breast) start cutting downwards, parallel to the cut you made to the wing. Only cut enough meat as you think necessary for the amount of people. Uncut meat will stay fresher longer.

7. Serve the Turkey: place all the slices of meat in an attractive manner on a large platter and serve to your guests.

* Note: Remove stuffing from the turkey either by taking it out of the hole made where the leg was removed or by making a new hole in the neck and taking it out from there.