the meat surface as it evaporates.
The Challenge of Whole Birds Chickens,
turkeys, and other meat birds are difficult to
roast whole, because their two kinds of meat
are best cooked differently. The tender breast
meat gets dry and tough if heated much above
155ºF/68ºC. The leg meat is full of connective
tissue, and is chewy if cooked to less than
165ºF/73ºC. So usually the cook must choose:
either the leg meat is sufficiently cooked and
the breast meat dry, or the breast meat
succulent and the leg meat gristly.
Cooks try to overcome this dilemma in
many ways. They turn the bird in various
routines to expose the thigh joint to more
heat. They cover the breast with foil, or with
wet cheesecloth, or strips of pork fat
(“barding”), or baste it, all to slow its
cooking. They cover the breast with an ice
pack and let the bird sit at room temperature
for an hour, so that the legs start the cooking