Butterball Help
For those getting ready to make Thanksgiving dinner but need an extra hand – there’s help just a phone call away. At the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line, experts are around to answer any question you might have about preparing your holiday turkey. The number one question the experts get is how to thaw it.
“It takes much longer than people imagine to thaw their turkey,” said Carol Miller, one of 50 turkey talkers at Butterball. “My motto and all of our mottos is to buy early and thaw easy and that just means the turkey comes home with you it gets put on a tray, slid into the refrigerator and you forget about it. It takes one day to thaw every four pounds of turkey.”
But if you don’t get your turkey early, you can still thaw the meat by filling up your sink with cold water and changing it every 30 minutes. Once it’s thawed and patted dry, it goes onto a roasting pan breast side up and slid into a 325-degree oven.
How to Know It’s Done
“You need this [meat thermometer]. This is like having grandma over your shoulder. She might know when it’s done but the meat thermometer – don’t tell her but this is better,” said Miller. “You want to make sure that the turkey reaches safe temperatures with the breast of the turkey, the white meat, it should be up to 170. The deep inner thigh is up to 180.” And if you have stuffing inside, that needs to reach 165 degrees.
On Call Until Christmas Eve
Once the talk-line is open on November 1, the center will receive around 100,000 calls, messages, and texts until it’s closed up again on December 24.
From the call center right here in Naperville, experts have been fielding questions from worried cooks nationwide since 1981. And though the pros are all dietitians, chefs, or food specialists, they still have to go through Butterball University before becoming a turkey talker.
Information and meal ideas can be found on the Butterball website and social media. If you need help with your holiday turkey you can reach the Turkey Talk-Line at 1-800-288-8372.
Reporting for Naperville News 17, I’m Aysha Ashley Househ.