Why is duck meat red meat and can be consumed medium rare and chicken meat white meat which should be cooked thoroughly even though they’re both birds?

Question

Why is duck meat red meat and can be consumed medium rare and chicken meat white meat which should be cooked thoroughly even though they’re both birds?

In: 8573

Answer 1

So fun fact, you can cook chicken and turkey to 136° which is more medium to medium rare, **but** you have to hold it at that temp for over an hour to kill the bacteria. People say 165° because that is the point where bacteria is instantly dead once it’s reaches that temp so you know if you cook it to 165° it’s safe to eat.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/smprv/uploads/files/RTE_Poultry_Tables1.pdf

As others have said, duck is less likely to be contaminated with salmonella due to farming practices. And the breast meat is red due to the duck using it’s breast muscles to fly