Here we go again, run up to Christmas and the food pages are full of useful hints and tips on how to roast the perfect turkey, giving people a timing of mins per 450 g/lb. Not very useful when pack weights are in kg only! [article contributed by Roz Denny]
Working on this illogical logic, the ‘useful’ hint should start:
- Get out your calculator.
- Work out how many 450 g there are in your pre-weighed (in kg) bird dividing by 0.450.
- Multiply by the 450 g units by time in mins.
Compare this to a useful timing of mins per kg:
- Multiply the time in mins by the kg weight.
(However, if you are following an old recipe from a favourite cookbook for other birds e.g goose or duck or a joint of beef/ham/pork, simply multiply the mins pr 450 g/ lb by 2.2 to get the kg weight timings).
- More information on cooking in metric is given on UKMA’s main website at http://www.ukma.org.uk/Practical/cookery/
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Just as it is common sense to use a kg-based rule of thumb for roasting, it makes sense to do the same for thawing a bird.
Ideally a bird should be thawed slowly in a fridge (if you have space) or a cool room. The Food Standards Agency (http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/seasonsandcelebrations/winter/saferchristmaseating/) recommends allowing 10-12 hours/kg in a fridge and 3-4 hours/kg in a cool room.
Muddling kilograms and pounds is the worst possible situation. With thawing you risk having a still-frozen bird on Christmas day and with roasting you risk food poisoning due to insufficient cooking of the meat.
Sticking to the easy kg rule makes sense.