We put our turkey in the fridge in the garage 5 days early. Took it out this morning and it was still mostly frozen😩😩 This method worked and it didn't take nearly as long
I always love your tips, tricks and videos, but on this one not so much. With your method, in the 9 to 12 hours it would take switching water every 30 minutes, that uses way too many gallons of water, which to me is wasteful. I agree with Bahama Mama below in using a cooler. It uses much less water, has very easy cleanup, and it helps hold a more even thawing temperature.
Thanks for the comment Verna, the issue with not changing the water is that it will get so cold it will prevent it from defrosting. This is another option for defrosting if someone needs it in an emergency. just being helpful. :-) Happy Cooking, Chef Jason
Chef Jason, thank you so much for your reply. I appreciate it very much! I still have to disagree with you because of 20 years of experience under my belt in doing the cooler way, and the sink way wastes way too much water (particularly with inflation and higher water bills). I'm mid 50's, and I've used this method for decades. The first time because I was in a hurry and had 30 people coming for turkey day with a turkey I forgot to thaw. The rest of the years I did it this way because it was so much easier. Just as you would say, and me too, the outside of a bird thawing before the inside can cause issues if harmful bacteria are present, so, by my defrosting it in the cooler, it keeps everything at the same even temperature. First, I put my naked bird in my brine water solution in the cooler 10 to 12 hours before cooking depending on it's weight. Brine water helps in not only salting the bird to lock in juiciness while cooking, but it also lowers the freezing point in the cooler, meaning the freeze point has been dropped from 32 degrees to about 28 degrees, which keeps the bird from staying frozen in the cooler water as you stated in your reply. I put the brine water in the cooler and put the bird in usually at 10:30 Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Because it's frozen, I let it soak in the water for a while. I get up about 2:30 a.m., and I add about 4 to 6 cups of ice depending on temperature, and I flip the bird to the other side. I then get up about 6:00 a.m. Thanksgiving morning and flip it once more and add more ice if needed. I stick a thermometer in the bird and get a read on temperature throughout the whole process. I keep it at or below 40 degrees fahrenheit. I put it on to cook usually about 10:00 a.m. Thanksgiving day, and the inside giblet bag and neck are sometimes still hard to get out if i bought a bigger turkey. If so, I flush the inner cavity with water from the brine solution in the cooler with my turkey injection bulb tube. I take the giblets and the neck out. Then I put the turkey in my roaster oven, inject it and cook it normally. It takes a tad bit longer on cook time if the giblets and neck were still half frozen when I removed them because that means the interior porrion of the turkey is still half to full frozen. It usually takes an extra hour if the center is frozen or partially frozen. Once again, the trusty thermometer wins the day. In the smaller birds, not icey in the middle when i pull them out to cook, they're usually ready by noon, but for the others who are still icey, they're usually done by 1:00 to 1:30. I've never made anyone sick and my bird is always juicy and tasty. For everyone's information, this post is purely my opinion and is just stating my own personal experience. Please use caution when cooking and check with medical professionals and food safety experts on their views to make an informed decision.
@@vernareid961 You wrote a whole book already, even though it may waste water and all that tactic is for someone who needs it thawed in a hurry. Now you’re worried about wasting water and a water bill then just don’t do it. Besides people out here don’t use coolers for thawing because most likely they own a yeti
I’m agree with you too I just left it in my sink with full of water over night . And next morning I washed it and cleaned it up . And left it in the fridge for evening dinner . Not sure if it’s safe or not but lol we are alive 😂😂😂
No Thank you did that last year NO SLEEP Started late afternoon all evening through the whole night all the way till morning 9 AM to defrost and cook. I will defrost in the Fridge early this time since I got the wrong Frozen Turkey delivered instead of a fresh one from Walmart
Thanks Bahama Mama, the issue with not changing the water and putting it in a cooler is that it will stay so cold it will prevent it from defrosting. This is another option for defrosting if someone needs it in an emergency. just being helpful. :-) Happy Cooking, Chef Jason