Thanksgiving ‘Turkey Challenge’: Millennials Alarm Parents, Ask For Tips On Microwaving Bird

The latest challenge sweeping Twitter is related to preparing a traditional feast for Thanksgiving, which is just a couple of days away. It is called the “Turkey Challenge” and involves millennials freaking out their parents and grandparents by asking about ways to cook a 25-pound turkey in a microwave.

Millennials are always on the move and hardly have time to spend half the day perfectly cooking the Thanksgiving bird. While most of them prefer ordering a precooked turkey, reluctantly hopping down to their parents’ place or foregoing the tradition of preparing the complicated meal altogether, asking for tips to microwave the bird is a sure shot way to alarm their folks — especially since turkey is not conventionally microwaved.

The challenge in question asks participants to “Text your mom and ask how long it takes to microwave a 25lb turkey. Post results.” Understandably, when young people reached out to their parents, they got back hilarious responses. While some parents lost their cool, ranting about having raised “stupid” sons and daughters, others took it with a grain of salt.

Here are a few hilarious reactions.

So, can turkeys be cooked in a microwave? According to United States Department of Agriculture, it can technically be done, but is not the most ideal way to cook the bird. One of the main concerns in this process of cooking is the risk of undercooking the turkey, which can be harmful for consumption. This is why USDA recommends restrictions on the size of the turkey and the manner of preparing it if one planned on cooking the bird in a microwave.

“Turkeys can be successfully cooked in a microwave oven — whole or in parts. Turkey parts can be cooked in a dish with a lid, or cover the dish with plastic wrap and vent the top. Timing can vary because of wattage differences, so follow the recommendations in the owner's manual. A 12- to 14-pound turkey is the maximum size most microwaves can accommodate. Microwaves sometimes cook a whole turkey unevenly, so microwaving it in an oven cooking bag aids in even heat distribution,” USDA recommends.

This meant that trying to microwave a 25-pound turkey was a complete no-no. In addition to a microwave, there were also other unconventional means of cooking a Thanksgiving turkey, which included cooking appliances such as an electric roaster oven, gas and charcoal grill, deep fryer, pressure cooker and a slow cooker.

Regardless of the utensil used to cook the bird, the crucial thing was to ensure that the turkey was properly and evenly cooked on all sides, especially in the wake of the first death linked to a salmonella outbreak from eating raw turkey reported by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Nov. 15. “We are still seeing new illnesses being reported on a weekly basis,” said Colin Basler, an epidemiologist with the CDC, Time reported.

The incident happened Oct. 20 in California, although not many details about it were reported by the CDC. While it was the first instance of a salmonella death linked to turkey meat consumption, 164 people have reportedly fallen in 35 states due to the bacterial infection since November 2017.