Originally Posted by
teddybear99
People cook turkey to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. When you do that, it will turn out dry as it is still cooking after you pull it out of the oven. There were many "experts" presenting cooking ideas that said cook to 155 -160 degrees if you like moist white meat as it will continue cooking after you remove it from the heat. I have cooked it that way many times in the past, and the family that loved the white meat was surprised they didn't need gravy.
Originally Posted by
BamaVol
Mine was 162 when I removed it from the oven. I injected an entire jar of Cajun garlic butter marinade. No part of it was dry when served.
165 should be fine, but you have to make sure the insides have sufficient liquid. I rarely cook turkey (not enough people to consume it in enough time before it goes bad), but with a chicken, I usually stab it a number of times and then use a syringe to inject some "liquid" (in my case butter as well but any marinade will do). If you're using an oven, one trick a lot of people use is to raise the turkey using vegetables (it roasts them at the same time) and pour some liquid into the roasting pan. There are a lot of other tips/tricks you can use to keep the meat moist.
Gravy should never be used to add moisture back into the food. It should be used to layer or enhance flavour.