Gah! Half frozen turkey..

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gemohler

Newbie
Original poster
May 26, 2009
14
10
Ok..so the bird where I normally buy my birds, never has em frozen, but I went on faith, got it this AM early, and now on-schedule ready to start the brine.

Its 1/2 frozen! They spatch'd it for me, and all, but..dangit..


Ive had it out for 1/2hr, and dont wanna leave it out more, should I allow it to brine and defrost for the next 24hrs on schedule?
 
Put it in the sink with slow runin water, will thaw out quicker that way. Ya don't wanna brine a partially frozen bird as it won't get it's full time ta brine cause it's gonna be defrostin stead a brinin due ta the meat still bein partly froze.
 
Put it in a sink of water like Tip said. If you put it in the brine it wont thaw. The salt in the brine will cause the water temp to go lower in turn preventing it from thawing. About 4 hours in the water should work and then you can brine.
 
Last week I took a 20 lb turkey frozen solid. Placed in brine at 2:00pm and spatchcocked it the next day at 11:00am. The neck was still awful cold, but not froze. added ice to the brine and placed the container in the cooler. 45degrees outside overnight.
Just saying. I agree the bird did not benefit 100% from the brine but...it was good.
 
I have a 22.5#, been in the fridge 24 hours...still about 95% frozen...think I'll start a submerged wet cooler thaw about 18-20 hours ahead of the smoke so I can spatch or quarter, and do my other tricks. Smokin' it on Wednesday instead of T-Day. Gotta work on T-Day...
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Eric
 
Thanks guys..in the deep sink, thats overflowing to the other side, with a small run of fresh water into the thaw side.
 
Probably too late for you on this shot, but in the future, a 5 gallon bucket (clean please) in the bathroom tub works really well for quick thawing out a bird.

Just make sure you always use cold water. Warm water will get you in the danger zone and keep you there.
 
NEVER soak meat in water. That goes against USDA handling suggestings. With poultry this is extremely important. Do as Trav said and place it under running cold water, not a sink full of water.

As for brining and thawing, it can be done. Just don't add ice. Prepare brine and allow to cool to room temp. Place frozen bird in and allow to sit in fridge for 24 hours with lid on loosely to allow cold air in. The bird will thaw and brine at the same time.

OK, I just visited the USDA website and they indicaet that three defrost methods should be printed on EVERY turkey package under safe handling. Ig you need to do a quick thaw, this is the proper way to do it...

"The last method of safe turkey defrosting is to submerge the bird in a clean sink full of cold water for approximately 30 minutes per pound. However, the wrapping on the frozen turkey must be free of tears or leaks of any kind or else bacteria can enter. In addition, the water must be drained and the sink refilled with fresh water every 30 minutes. As with the microwave method, the turkey should be cooked right after thawing and before refreezing."

Sothere ya go. Right from the USDA. When I worked in a restaurant, we used the running water method and never soaked.... This must be an updated guideline.

Good luck!
 
I think I'm missing something here. I'm not suggesting that you submerge an unwrapped bird in water. But I can tell you that a bird in a sink full or bucket full of water will thaw more quickly and more evenly than just under running water. It's the convection that is created by the moving water as well as the increased surface area in contact with the meat. Are we saying the same thing just 2 different ways? If so, sorry for the rambling.
 
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