Use 'Zone Defense' For Safe Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is THE holiday for foodies. It is that magical day when we take center stage, and all our creations are greeted by family and friends with bibs affixed and stomachs grumbling.

Unless we want our grand performance to end with the unmatched fun of an ambulance ride and stomach pump, we'll want to follow some basic food safety guidelines to keep the bugaboos of cross-contamination and spoilage at bay. Let's start with the star of the feast and move on from there.

Turkey

Most of you probably got your turkey in the frozen form. For maximum enjoyment, it should no longer be frozen on Thanksgiving morning when you start to cook it. However, there are pitfalls on the road to cookability, and improper turkey management can turn that bountiful bird into a ticking bacterial time bomb.

Now, I'm sure we've all tossed a steak or a chicken breast on a plate on the kitchen counter to thaw at one time or another. As long as they don't stay in the bacterial danger zone of between 40 and 140° Fahrenheit over two hours, that's just fine. The problem with counter-thawing something like a turkey is that the outside layers will be deep into the danger zone, merrily breeding culture after culture of bacteria, while the center of the bird is still rock-hard.

The safest way to thaw your bird is in the refrigerator. Allow one day of thawing for each 5 pounds of weight. In other words, if you have a 20-pound Birdzilla like me, Monday is the day you should make the move.

If you're short on refrigerator space, you can use a foam picnic cooler and some cold-packs to create the proper thawing environment. Jam a thermometer probe through the foam top and set the alarm to 39 degrees. Once the temperature alarm goes off, your bird should be just about ready for the oven. Check the body cavity for any lingering ice. This is also the time to remove all the giblets, gravy packets (THROW AWAY) and neck from your bird. Be sure to check the neck cavity also.

In a pinch, you can also thaw your bird in cold water. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends changing the water every 30 minutes (adding fresh cold water or tap water with ice) until thawed and then cooking immediately. Make sure the turkey is still wrapped unless you like waterlogged meat.

Once your bird is thawed, you'll probably be wanting to cook it. Do so by whatever means you choose, but make sure the dark meat reaches 180° and the deepest part of the breast is ¡. You can achieve this temperature differential by putting a "cap" of aluminum foil over the breast after the first hour or so of roasting.

This would be a really good time to talk about your zones. No, not THOSE zones, you guttermind. We're talking about your safety zones.

Zones

Hands in the air ... how many of you use a wooden cutting board for everything, meat and veggie, raw and cooked alike? I want you to grasp that wooden board in your raised hand and bring it down sharply on the top of your head. Did it hurt? It hurt a lot less than the case of food poisoning you've been courting.

There is a lot of dithering over wooden boards. They are easier on knife edges, and certainly more attractive than the slabs of plastic or glass. They often become heirlooms, and are passed down generation to generation, along with the colonies of microorganisms breeding in the cracks.

Be safe: relegate that wooden board to the fruit and cheese circuit. Use only plastic or glass boards for real kitchen work. They clean and sanitize easily, and there are no nooks or crannies (unless your plastic gets gouged and worn) for Mr. Microbe and the family to move into.

Ideally, your Thanksgiving kitchen should operate with three cutting boards, which will be the center of your zones. First, you'll have your raw meat zone, with board, tongs, small dishes for seasonings, etc. This should be the zone closest to your sink, to allow for timely and frequent hand washing. Plan your food handling! If you're up to your elbows in turkey preparation, don't have a casserole due in the oven or a sauce needing attention on the stove. You'll be spreading raw turkey cooties onto any surface you touch.

NOTE: For ultimate cleanliness, a pair of plastic or latex foodservice gloves are your best friend.

The raw meat zone should also be where you handle the turkey giblets, sausage for sausage stuffing, and any other raw flesh. Make sure to wash your board and tools in hot, soapy water whenever you change meats or finish an activity.

Next is your raw vegetable board. As evidenced by numerous outbreaks of everything from mild food poisoning to hepatitis A, raw veggies can carry their own set of bacterial dangers. Make sure all vegetables are thoroughly washed before use. Use a vegetable brush and plenty of running water. Vegetables cut for crudités should be covered with plastic and kept refrigerated until serving time.

Once again, your mise en place dishes, tongs, whisks, etc. must remain in their zones until thoroughly cleaned and sanitized. Think of your sink and soap as an airlock through which all equipment must pass before moving to another zone.

If, like many of us, you only have one chef's knife you trust for vital Thanksgiving work, make sure it NEVER crosses from one zone to another without a thorough washing and sanitizing. A small Lexan pan of bleach solution (½ tbsp. bleach to 1 gallon water) will do the trick. Let the knife stay in the solution for 30 seconds as a last step, then dry with a clean towel and proceed.

So, now we've got our raw zones together. Let's move on to the most often-neglected area: the cooked/holding zone.

This will most likely be a kitchen island or counter, or perhaps a sidebar or buffet in the dining room. Wherever it is, it needs to be carefully maintained.

If cold salads are going to be left out for a long period, place the salad bowl inside a larger bowl that contains ice in a zipper bag. The bag will prevent any splashing, and the ice will help keep the salad safely cold.

Casseroles should be kept on warming trays if available, or covered tightly with foil to hold in heat until serving time.

The turkey should be allowed to rest for at least 20 minutes, foil-tented, before carving. After carving, the meat should not stay in the bacterial danger zone (see above) for more than two hours.

Desserts should be treated according to their composition. Dairy desserts, such as cream pies, should be kept cold until serving. Pecan and fruit pies can live at room temperature for several hours, but a quick zap in the microwave just before serving will improve flavor, increase safety and make the ice cream on top melt better.

So now the meal is done. The L-tryptophan is kicking in. There's a light at the end of the tunnel ... and it's coming from your recliner. You hear the voices of relatives ... not dead ones, the ones at the dinner, telling you how great the food was. The food! There's one more thing you have to remember. If only you could focus ... you'd realize you're entering another area of Turkey Day peril ...

Leftovers

You've just spent all day cooking. You've finally gotten to eat YOUR dinner, no doubt after much jumping up and down seeing to the needs of your various guests. Now the meal is over and you just want to relax. And there is no reason on earth why you shouldn't!

Before Morpheus comes to claim you for a post-feast nap, make sure a trusty son, daughter, niece, nephew, friend or significant other is detailed to supervise the storage of leftovers. If your family is anything like mine, you've got enough food for three or four full meals left, and it would be a flat-out shame to let it all spoil. Make sure you've laid in a goodly supply of Tupperware, zipper bags of all sizes, plastic wrap and aluminum foil to allow your deputized leftover warden to put all the goodies away easily. It may not be pretty, but as long as everything gets safely refrigerated, you can nap in peace.

For about two hours, at least. It's almost time to go shopping!