The large stuffed roasts exude exuberance, and are dishes that undoubtedly parade through many tables on special occasions. Birds like the turkey, the chicken, the capon or also the pularda are perhaps the most traditional since medieval times, but we can fill many other meals, also more daily. Their daily lives can lead us to neglect food safety, and no one wants to end up in the emergency room on Christmas Day with food poisoning.
Either with a traditional stuffed chicken recipe that admits so many variants, or with other meats such as stuffed pork loin, this technique allows raising humbler pieces and turning them into more luxurious dishesspreading much more and making them a really special bite, as they well know in the United States with their Thanksgiving turkey.
But we can also go to sailor side with a very tasty stuffed hake or, more like grandma’s cooking, with the typical squid stuffed in its own ink or some simple squid. If we stop to think, we love it fill everything in the kitchen: canned piquillo peppers and also bell peppers or Italian type; vegetables such as tomatoes, aubergines, zucchini or also onions; tubers like potatoes; boiled eggs and avocados for appetizers etc. And that’s not to mention stuffed pasta such as cannelloni, tortillas or empanadas and dumplings.
The problem that this type of recipe can present is that we are faced with two elaborations different with different peculiarities, no matter how much they end up together. And, in terms of food safety, it should be borne in mind that they may entail different risks.
It will be necessary to pay more attention to the farces or fillings based on raw ingredients, especially from minced meat, fresh cold cuts, eggs and uncooked shellfish, since they concentrate many of the most frequent food poisonings. Also, when stuffing large items like chickens and turkeys, cooking time is changed and it is more difficult to control the point, risking leaving parts of the interior raw, another risk factor.
Nor should we lose sight of vegetable fillings, which, once cut and by generating humidity or accumulating, are another potential source of Bacterial growth. The risks always increase the more ingredients are combined in the mix, especially if they go raw.
How to Cook Stuffing Safely
To cook any stuffed dish safely, there are three key aspects: to plan ok, avoid the cross contamination and ensure a cooked uniform and correct of all elements. To ensure that they are met, it is advisable to follow the following recommendations.
Do not prepare the filling in advance
Leaving the filling ready hours or a day before is a risky activity, especially if it includes minced meat, but also offal, fresh sausages, eggs, fish or shellfish. Although we think that we are going to save steps before cooking, it is not like making the dough for some croquettes.
The filling must be prepared in the same moment in which it is going to be cooked, whether it is prepared separately, or if we are going to fill the main food with it to cook them together. In the second case it is especially dangerous, since, in the case of having developed a microorganism, the product to be filled raw could be easily contaminated.
If we cook the filling first, we must refrigerate it correctly as soon as possible, and do not keep it in the fridge for more than a couple of days, reheat it to a minimum temperature of 75º C, and never use it to fill food raw.
Prepare the filling in advance only if you are going to freeze it
The exception to work in advance we have it frozen. In this case, we can make the raw filling mixture and freeze it immediately. You just have to remember defrost it properly with time, in the least cold part of the fridge the day before; never at room temperature.
Beware of cross contamination
Ideally we will make the mixture of the filling separating each ingredient depending on the type of food, leaving raw meat or fish for last. Vegetables and herbs must be well washed and dried, and they must be handled on tables and with different utensils than meat or fish.
It is also advisable to combine separate the dry ingredients from the wet ones. For example, combining on the one hand cereals or grains, bread, nuts, dry spices, very dry vegetable seeds, etc. At the last moment, both mixtures are combined, then adding seasonings such as juice, sauce, wine, broth or oil.
Precook the filling, if possible
It will always be safer to cook the stuffing separately, as the Anglo-Saxons often do with their stuffingserving it even apart, or, at least, precook it in part. Meat, fish, offal and shellfish have a higher risk of contamination, which is why it is especially recommended to pre-cook them before filling them, for example by making a stir-fry or sautéing in the pan.
Avoid cold and dry fillings
It is easier for the heat of cooking to destroy possible bacteria in a Humid climate dry, so we must ensure that the mixture has enough moisture, without dripping. In addition, it should not be too cold, if it is raw, and quickly fill it hot if we have precooked it, when we can handle the food without burning ourselves.
Do not overfill
The padding must be inserted loosely.
Although it may tempt us to rush the farce and press as much as possible inside to load the filling cavity, it is not the most recommended. As indicated by the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), poultry and other foods must be stuffed looselyloosely, leaving room for them to increase in volume during cooking and due to the action of the heat, since they will also release juices and could still come out raw.
As a general guide, it is recommended to use 3/4 cup of stuffing (about 180 ml) for every 450 grams, approximately, of chicken, turkey or other pieces to be stuffed. In addition, it is convenient secure the filling closing the cavity and tying with twine, to give it a better shape, or using toothpicks as a fastener.
Using a digital thermometer
As much as we believe that we can guide ourselves to ojimeternothing like knowing the precise temperature inside the food to know for sure if they are on point. In addition to ensuring a perfect, juicy and tasty texture, we will avoid risks of meat and fish that are still raw, or of fillings that are not completely cooked.
The old techniques of pricking the chicken and checking if the liquid does not come out, or being guided by the color, are not very reliable or recommended. Better to invest in a digital thermometer, which we also consider one of our basics kitchen to resort to on many occasions. When it is time for barbecues, we will especially appreciate it, also if it gives us the pastry vein or for making bread.
ThermoPro TP02S 5 Second Instant Read Kitchen Thermometer Digital Food Thermometers with Long Probe for Meat BBQ Food Liquids Oil Water
ThermoPro TP610 Kitchen Food Thermometer with Temperature Probe and Long Cable with Alarm, Bottle Opener and Backlight for Oven Barbecue Meat Grill Oil Water Milk
MEATERPlus | 50m Wireless Smart Meat Thermometer for Oven, Kitchen Grill, BBQ, Smoker, Rotisserie with Bluetooth and WiFi Digital Connectivity
Some more advanced thermometers have connectivity with the mobile phone to control cooking through a specific application, and others have other mechanisms that notify you according to the food and the technique. Nor do you need to spend a lot to have a good thermometer; it is enough to be clear internal minimum temperatures sure that each plate should reach, as stated in this document from AESAN.
- Meat: 70ºC.
- Chicken, turkey and other birds: 74º C.
- Fillings for meat, chicken, pasta or fish: 74º C.
- Minced meat: 71.1 ºC.
- Minced poultry meat: 74º C.
- Fish: 68º C for at least 17 seconds.
- Ham, fresh or smoked (uncooked): 62.8ºC and let rest for at least three minutes.
Images | iStock – Marco Verch
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