Stopping a domestic

if the legs are falling off the chicken it's ready. ?

I must confess that since having a very bad attack of food poisoning many years ago, after eating what DF, myself and youngest sister agreed was quite the most delicious steak we had ever eaten, I cannot eat eat meat that is not fully cooked. But I can be rational about whether meat is cooked based on cooking time, temperature and examining it before eating it.

I’ve only had food poisoning once, and it was immediately after a mussels starter in a very nice restaurant. I had to push past the queue for the ladies’ with my hand clamped firmly over my mouth.

When I reappeared all pale and wan I found that the local society for the deaf were having their Christmas do there, and as I walked past most of them were graphically signing to each other exactly what I had been doing in the loo.

My grandmother used to say that if there wasn’t blood on the plate when beef was served, it was over-cooked. I agree. When we lived in Germany we ate mettbrotchen for lunch, raw peppered minced beef in crusty rolls. Delicious.

With chicken, I just check that the juices run clear when pierced with a skewer.

I don't think the facts of whether the meat is cooked or not has anything to do with it, I doubt all the digital thermometers in the world could convince this man that the meat is fully cooked

Send him to a counsellor, to discover the source of this obsession with whether the meat is fully cooked and then deal with it.

My DH will be pleased to know there are others that back him with all this cautiousness. I won’t go into his other foibles but I certainly wouldn’t swap him.

I'm the same as your husband - I wouldn't eat any meat that is pink. I only eat chicken and turkey, anyway, as I'm not keen on lamb, pork or beef.

I over-cook meat and fish. If something is meant to be in the oven for an hour, I cook it for another 15 minutes. I once had food poisoning, and I was so ill, I wouldn't ever want that again.

I was going to say that kitty but I thought not in case nobody believed me hahahaa. " I can smell it's cooked ".

I can smell when something is cooked - I think that's similar to gd comment.

I do have a digital fork thing but I don't really trust it!

buy a digital probe - brilliant for turkey - any meat - pannacottas - cakes - go to Nisbets catering suppliers - they are brilliant and I have given them to all friends and relatives - peace now reigns -

Snap Blinko

I don’t think men understand the concept upon which most women rely when they cook; to whit experience and instinct, and when that fails them, they fly by the seat of their pants. I am married to a man who has to have a recipe, which he will then follow slavishly. If it says cut into one centimetre dice, then that is what he painstakingly does. You could waste away waiting for him to produce anything, and timings are all, even if the net result is bordering on uncooked “because that is what it says in the recipe!”

Actually, I must be related to your DH, for I too was always checking if chicken is pink, and I am often accused of overcooking it ( I do). If the idea is in my mind that something is 'off' or underdone I won't eat it. DH on the other hand is our resident bio-digester and eats anything with no side effects.

If you don't have a thermometer then stick a skewer into the turkey where the leg joins the body and if the juices run clear then it should be done.
Leave it to rest for a while too.

You could buy an oven thermometer too, to make sure your oven reaches the correct temperature.

Tell him if he sticks a skewer into the thickest part of the leg and you can hear it hit the bone, then the bird is done.
Alternatively stick a skewer into the thickest part of his leg ……

Perhaps not if you want to enjoy the rest of Christmas!

Yes Jane very sound advice, plus a thermometer. Thanks All.

At this point I must say that DH will do any job asked, at anytime. Never complains when I go galavanting with my friends. I wouldn’t swap him with anyone. He knows he is a perfectionist and nit picker extraordinaire, against my slap dash fun temperament and surprisingly we rub along very well together.

Tell him if he sticks a skewer into the thickest part of the leg and you can hear it hit the bone, then the bird is done. Brook no arguments. If he doesn’t like it, give him nut roast. Maytime I once bought a turkey with a device that popped a little button up when the bird was done. I’ve never seen one since.

Follow janeainsworth's advice to the letter

And buy a meat thermometer. They are very useful and quite sharp!

Ah, from the title I thought it was about the best way to sack your cleaner....

My daughter spent a gap year in Australia some years ago. She shared a flat with some boys so the cooking of the Christmas turkey was left to her. She said that all turkeys in Australia came with a built in thermometer which changed colour when the bird was cooked. Why can't we have the same device here ?

I solved that argument a few years ago. I bought a food thermometer.

Other such domestics have been solved by letting OH have the jobs

The thermometer is good for any kind of food, including things we've microwaved, so now I just send OH to test whatever needs it and he has control for the doneness lol.

And he has learnt the value in standing time.

However, there are still plenty of things that I don't do correctly.

He's learning that if I don't do things to his liking he gets the jobs but it's taken him a few years to catch on

Loading the dishwasher was one of them. I don't know how I coped when he worked away but that's another job passed on, oh and the vacuuming is his now too.

Good Luck with finding a solution to your dilemma before cooking the Turkey.

Kate
I can understand your not wanting to delegate the cooking of the entire Christmas dinner to your DH.
What I suggest is this - partial delegation.
Get out your oldest, very basic recipe book. You know, the one that tells you how to boil an egg that you were given when you left home.
Get DH to look up turkey cooking times and temperatures.
Get him to weigh your turkey, including the weight of stuffing, if used.
Tell him to work out for how long, and at what temperature, your turkey needs to cook for. Don’t forget to add 10 minutes if you’ve covered it with foil.
Remind him it needs to stand for 15 minutes after it comes out of the oven, before you can eat it.
On Christmas Day remind him to take the turkey out of the fridge an hour before it’s supposed to start cooking, so it will get up to room temperature.
Remind him that during the morning that he’ll need to check on the turkey and baste it occasionally, more frequently if it’s not covered with foil.

I predict that after you’ve given him all these instructions and advice, he will beat a hasty retreat out of your kitchen and leave you in peace, and never dare to question your cooking again
Merry Christmas!

Just ignore him and give him the outside of the bird.
Life’s too short!

We are not Veggies FarNorth. Not that I have anything against vegetarians.

My DH is the same. He cooks and so we often have tough overcooked meat.