Talking turkey: Butterball hotline helps people cook the perfect bird

Jan Allen has been talking turkey for 40 years.

She became a Butterball Turkey Talk Line expert in 1982, just one year after the service launched.

“I've been helping consumers over the holidays for years and I just love it,” she told CityNews Halifax.

As a home economics teacher at her local high school, when she started out, she thought she already knew everything there was about cooking the perfect holiday meal, but soon found out that wasn't the case.

Allen said all the talk line operators are required to attend Butterball University annually.

“We learn how to cook turkeys in all the different ways and we have new training each year,” she explained. “Boy, I've walked out with my head down because I learned so much.”

And she said the job goes well beyond the step-by-step instructions of getting the bird from the freezer to the table.

“We're prepared to help people, not just by giving them all the answers to their technical questions, but we provide emotional support and help calm them down and plan carefully so things go smoothly.”

In her four decades of giving out advice, she said the most common question she gets is how long to thaw the bird before cooking.

She said it requires one day in the refrigerator for every four pounds of turkey. If you're doing the math right now and thinking “uh oh,” all is not lost.

“You can always cold water thaw it as well. You submerge the turkey in cold water, in the original wrapper, breast side down and every half hour you change the water,” Allen said. “Initially that water gets very, very cold because the turkey is like a giant ice cube. Towards the end, the water could get warm. That's why it's so important to keep the water cold and keep changing it every half hour.”

“That only takes 30 minutes a pound, so if you've got a 12 pound turkey, you can get it thawed in six hours.”

People also frequently ask how long it takes to cook the bird. The answer depends on what method you're using.

If this is your first time hosting, she said the simplest and most reliable way is using an open pan in the oven.

“Use a shallow pan that's two to three inches deep, put a roast rack in the bottom of the pan so the turkey isn't sitting in the juices that will come out as it cooks, and that also allows the turkey to cook more evenly because the air can get around it and cook it from all sides,” Allen explained.

Stuffing the turkey is optional. If you're up for it, she said you can do all the chopping ahead of time and keep the ingredients in the fridge.

“But you actually sauté those things and combine it with the bread cubes and stuff it right before it goes in the oven.”

To get that Instagram-worthy beautiful golden brown colouring, Allen recommends brushing the bird with vegetable oil, which will also help prevent the meat from drying out.

“Put it in a 325 degree oven. The first two-thirds of the roasting time the turkey is totally uncovered, and the last third you want to take a small piece of lightweight foil and make a little tent over the breast, and that keeps the breast from getting dry while the rest of the turkey continues cooking because the thighs and the legs are the last part to get done.”

Allen said invest in a good quality meat thermometer.

“The doneness in the thigh would be 180. The doneness in the breast would be 170,” she stated. 

“But you also want to put the meat thermometer in the stuffing to make sure that gets up to temperature, because as the turkey is cooking, raw turkey juices are dripping into the stuffing, so that needs to be 165.”

Once you remove the turkey from the oven, Allen recommends letting it sit covered in foil for 20 minutes before carving.

“That lets the juices set so it carves into much nicer slices rather than shreds.”

Butterball has more advice on its website.

And if that's not enough, the Butterball Turkey Talk Line can be reached from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Atlantic Thursday, December 24 and Friday, December 23, then from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve. It's closed on Christmas Day.

Just call 1-800-Butterball or text 1-844-877-3456.