Hot Turkey Question

Food cooling is critical and for food safety the cooling guidelines are clearly outlined in the servsafe manual.

The product must be cooled from 135 degrees to 70 degrees in 2 hours or less. It then must be cooled from 70 degrees to 41 degrees or colder in the next 4 hours or less.

So, in a nutshell it can be no longer than 6 hours total cooling time from finished temperature to 41 degrees or less. Obviously from 135 degrees to 70 degrees is the most critical as that puts the product in the danger zone so it cannot be there longer than 2 hours. The clincher is that if neither of those temperatures are met the product must be reheated to 135 degrees or more and the process restarted to cool it.

Ice baths, chilled water or blast chillers are the best options.

Put the cooked birds on the top shelf in your walk-in until 70 degrees. Then you can move them around. I would not wrap them until they reach 70.

Resting...I would not let them rest any further than 135 degrees. At that point you need to be rapidly chilling them.

If you’re refrigerating something smelly, foil creates a stronger barrier to keep odors in. Just be sure to seal as tightly as possible. A foil is also ideal if you’ll be reheating the food in a conventional oven since it can withstand heat.So you should wrap them with foil paper.

jane nair said:

If you’re refrigerating something smelly, foil creates a stronger barrier to keep odors in. Just be sure to seal as tightly as possible. A foil is also ideal if you’ll be reheating the food in a conventional oven since it can withstand heat.So you should wrap them with foil paper.

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Just catching up to this thread...

Foil will also slow the cooling time if you place them in a fridge.