Myths about myths about Thanksgiving turkey making you sleepy

[pokerfan]

By Bora Zivkovic | November 23, 2011

Does tryptophan from turkey meat make you sleepy?

Short answer is NO.

Long answer is much, much more interesting than what you usually hear.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/a-blog-around-the-clock/2011/11/23/myths-about-myths-about-thanksgiving-turkey-making-you-sleepy

[SheilaT]

1. I also wonder about the claim

that cooking the stuffing inside the turkey is Very Dangerous. I'm inclined to think that if it were true, people would have been dropping like flies every Thanksgiving.

[RKP5637]

2. I've had that for years ... maybe turkeys today are more contaminated, no idea, just

guessing.

[ellenfl]

3. i've been cooking stuffing in the turkey for 40+ yrs & i'm not dead yet. eom

[DontTreadOnMe]

6. yeah, not dead... yet!

Keep stuffing that butterball :)

[ellenfl]

8. no butterball . . . too much salt . . . a bigger danger, imo. eom

[pipoman]

4. It is only dangerous if it isn't properly cooked.

The problem is that to kill salmonella, anything which has contacted the bug must be cooked to 165 degrees. The cavity of the bird and the liquid with the bird penetrate the stuffing. The mistake is to believe that since the turkey is done that the stuffing has reached 165.. A turkey is difficult without stuffing because by the time the thighs are done (165), the breast is 190 drying it out. By the time the center of the stuffing is 165, the breast might be 200. The solution is to cook the stuffing separately, then if you want to present the turkey, put the cooked stuffing in the cooked bird. Myself, I buy deboned raw turkeys in roast netting and cook the stuffing separately. The deboned turkey cooks more evenly, the breast meat and thigh meat cook at nearly the same rate..I love them. I sold 12 today and am cooking 8 tomorrow to feed 250 people (+4 hams).

[SheilaT]

7. I understand that, but my point is that

I've never heard of anyone getting sick after eating the dressing cooked inside the bird. I suppose it happens, but if it were that huge a risk, you'd be reading every year about the hospitalizations for food poisoning right after the big day.

I'm wondering if this isn't a little like the Beware of Poisoned Candy at Halloween time.

[pipoman]

9. Most food poisoning is not reported

nor is it life threatening to healthy people. The 'stomach flu' as it used to be called with a day of vomiting, then recovery or diarrhea for a day etc. There are some nasty strains around, most are simply chalked up to 'eating something that disagreed with me'. I don't stuff turkeys because I don't get the necessity. I would rather have more stuffing and a perfectly done bird. Happy Thanksgiving.

[SheilaT]

10. I've just never noticed an outbreak

of that kind of thing after Thanksgiving.

[riverbendviewgal]

5. My turkey is empty when I bake it.

I bake my stuffing in a pie plate. much safer.