Some of my own personal observations:
- a turkey is a HUGE bird
- people only cook turkey once a year
- most guidelines for cooking turkey overcook the turkey
- most people are terrified of undercooking poultry
Trying something once a year isn't usually great for learning. It's a long feedback cycle and cooking for a special occasion disincentivises risk taking/experimentation. Same goes for risk of inflicting food poisoning for a large group. Cooking something so large is sufficiently different from roasting a chicken (for example) that people lack confidence/get it wrong.
This leads to the quaint cultural tradition of millions of people overcooking their turkey on thanksgiving in the US and on Christmas in the UK.
That said I always thought the US generally ate turkey more so their turkey game was better.
Fwiw my turkey has never been dry but I come from a family of cooks.
- a turkey is a HUGE bird
- people only cook turkey once a year
- most guidelines for cooking turkey overcook the turkey
- most people are terrified of undercooking poultry
Trying something once a year isn't usually great for learning. It's a long feedback cycle and cooking for a special occasion disincentivises risk taking/experimentation. Same goes for risk of inflicting food poisoning for a large group. Cooking something so large is sufficiently different from roasting a chicken (for example) that people lack confidence/get it wrong.
This leads to the quaint cultural tradition of millions of people overcooking their turkey on thanksgiving in the US and on Christmas in the UK.
That said I always thought the US generally ate turkey more so their turkey game was better.
Fwiw my turkey has never been dry but I come from a family of cooks.