How to Keep Thanksgiving Leftovers Fresh

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Posted on November 25, 2015 9:17 am in All Style

How to Keep Thanksgiving Leftovers Fresh (epicurious.com)

Thanksgiving is the one holiday when Americans tend to dine like the French. In other words, we eat slow…very slow. And between the extra helpings of mashed potatoes and the wine, it’s easy as, well, pie to forget that your gorgeous turkey with its burnished golden skin is coming to room temperature, and is thus becoming a food poisoning threat.

The USDA puts this very plainly: A cooked turkey left at room temperature for more than two hours is not safe to eat and should be thrown away. (Live in a hotter part of America, and your kitchen is in the toasty 90-degree zone? That sounds lovely, but it means you only have an hour to keep your bird sitting out.)

Banking on the turkey’s resting time (about 30 minutes, ideally), that doesn’t give you a lot of leeway. Plus it’s easy to forget about stowing your bird in the fridge when you’re tipping back one last glass of Riesling or “sampling” the pecan pie.

So plan ahead: Get resealable containers ready, and set timers to remind you to put the bird safely away in the fridge. Having everything close at hand means stashing turkey safely and quickly will be a snap.

Some extra tips:

  • Avoid stashing the bird in the fridge right on its roasting pan. That pan may be retaining heat, which means parts of the bird will stay in the unsafe temperature zone, even in the fridge. Whoever has carving duty should carve the entirety of the bird, which will help you stash small portions into little containers (thus helping their temperature drop more quickly—and thus more safely). The same rules apply to the freezer.
  • As a pragmatic matter, if you don’t want to send guests home with all your pricey Tupperware or serving dishes, stop by a 99-cent store, which may have less expensive tins, such as disposable tins and plasticware, or go online for delivery-style containers. Keep those handy by the stove, and if they need covers of aluminum foil or plastic wrap, make sure you have plenty.
  • When the bird comes out of the oven, set a very loud timer somewhere to go off after an hour and a half. Jump up, or grab a relative or friend to help, and get that turkey portioned, sealed up, and into the fridge or freezer before you slip into that turkey coma. You can distribute the goodies later depending on what guests are craving—and what you’re willing to part with.
  • Always, always be sure to save plenty for turkey sandwiches for yourself tomorrow.

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