Effect of Cooking Method on the Quality of Turkey Breast Meat Cooked from the Frozen State

Abstract INTRODUCTION ELIMINATING defrosting turkey before cooking may increase consumption of turkey meat and be more convenient. Cutting birds into quarters provides smaller pieces than whole birds for family meals, reduces total cooking time and permits light or dark meat to be selected. In this study two common cooking methods, roasting and braising were compared using light meat breast quarters cooked from the frozen state. EXPERIMENTAL Materials and Methods. Twenty-four Broad Breasted Bronze turkey hens (U.S. Grade A), from the same flock and processed under similar conditions, were purchased from Kansas State Poultry farm and processed by a commercial processing plant. The dressed weight of turkey hens ranged from 12–14 lbs. The birds were slaughtered by conventional methods and chilled in ice water overnight. The next day, the whole turkeys were separated, using a band saw, into quarters separating the light meat from the dark meat. The right and left . . .