After doing this stupid cold water thawing routine last year, I figured I'd plan an extra day for fridge thawing this year. I took my pair of 14 pounders out on Saturday night to give them a 5-day fridge thaw.

They're barely thawed. Breast seems soft.. thighs and back are hard as rocks.

Fresh birds next year.

Morning Dan.

Put them in cold water now. If you have a laundry sink, i.e., a deep sink, so much the better because you can run water in as you drain some out. The movement of the water will thaw more quickly. If not and you have some time, change the water frequently. If you have less time, or would simply prefer, remove the birds from the packaging and rinse the exteriors and interiors with slightly cold water, especially both cavities, then allow to sit on racks on the counter. If necessary, re-rinse in 20-30 min or so. (Clean the sink, counters, faucets well after rinsing the birds as contamination is quite possible.)

Hey Kevin,

Thanks for the tips. I've got a pair of pumped Butterballs, so I'm just keeping them in the packaging and changing the water every 30 minutes. Target time for dinner is 1:00, but if it's later than that, it's no big deal. It's just frustrating because I planned for this not to happen this year. :/

I know the feeling.

You can still remove from packaging so that you can get a good feel of the interiors. If ice crystal-y you can rinse (the rinsing speeds thawing considerably). That's what I ended up doing with the one I smoked yesterday as it wasn't thawed sufficiently and I decided I didn't want to wait to smoke it today. Turkey #2 gets oven roasted today.

quote:

Originally posted by K Kruger:
I know the feeling.

You can still remove from packaging so that you can get a good feel of the interiors. If ice crystal-y you can rinse (the rinsing speeds thawing considerably). That's what I ended up doing with the one I smoked yesterday as it wasn't thawed sufficiently and I decided I didn't want to wait to smoke it today. Turkey #2 gets oven roasted today.

I end up having to do this EVERYTIME!!! ugh

The decision I foolishly did not make when I had this house built was to include a laundry/pot sink. Can't believe I didn't do that! It makes this sort of thing easier--and makes cleaning large pots almost a pleasure. Whenever I can redo this kitchen and laundry room I'm definitely adding one.

I had laundry tubs for years in my old house ... I overlooked getting them added to this house when it was built as well. We've missed them a lot.

No Turkey for me, doing 2 5lb's briskets and 11 lb ham. doing it high cook. Should be ready by 2 PM

I have a storage fridge I run on max cold, I use it for curing and wet aging as well. It's measured 34º - 38º.

I thawed a bird in it once, 18# IIRC, and after 10 days it was still icy. It's often inconvenient to have a bird taking up that much fridge space for so long.

I've taken to using a cooler in my garage for the first couple of days and it cuts time down by half to 2/3.

The garage is around 50º - 65º, I put the bird in a reasonably close fitting cooler and flip it every 12 hours.

When it's roughly 2/3 thawed it goes in the fridge for a couple more days. It's slower than the counter or in running water, but faster than straight fridge ... it works for me.

I'll temp one with the ET-73 at xmas this year with an alarm of 43ºF and post my results.

Well, all was not lost, but it took a damn long time. Both birds were right at 32 degrees when I put them on, but I said screw it. It took them six hours to get up to 160 in the breast. I had some very angry eaters, but they all said it was worth the wait.

Also had my mom show me how to make a true roux, which was really cool. I made an awesome turkey stock in the morning with the necks, and she showed me the proper method of browning flour for turkey gravy. A roux smells like heaven! Delish!