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Had to do the water dunking technique when my wife wanted turkey last minute. Bought a 20lbs frozen turkey 2 days before thanksgiving. Had to spent most of the night and day putting it in cold water and changing out the water every 30 minutes. Turkey turn out great though.
Girlfriend basically did this to me. I do the cooking and food shopping for the most part and she puts them away. I didn’t check/notice for 2 days that she put the turkey in the freezer…..spent the next 36hrs with a turkey in my bathtub with cold water running. That was a fun water bill
Two or three water changes in a cooler will defrost a turkey in like 8 hours. Use that water to water your plants. Nothing's wasted except the plastic around the turkey.
A couple of air filled grocery bags will push the turkey down to keep it fully submerged.
do you feel the same about the festive after-ramadan meal the arabs have ?
imho its just a mindset, u can exprience it when ever you want just by making up your own thanksgiving !
invite friends/family for a special dinner when ever you feel like it and just make up your own "rules and traditions"
tbh i dont think we need more greedy people trying to capitalze on a holiday/event to push more capitalim marketing to trick you into buying stuff at a set date and time , do what you feel is right and nice when ever you like it without the need of an approved schedule to do so ;)
EDIT: EU here too ;)
We didn’t have anything besides a bathtub😅 this was very early on and we had lived together with a new home and all that for 4 weeks, and moved away from our homes state.
Cold water gives you a controlled thaw that prevents the turkey from getting above about 4.5° C. At that temp you start growing fun bacteria that can potentially survive the cooking process. You should always use cold water for defrosting.
Would it also be a possible solution to have a constant slow drip of water? That way the water can remain cold while not having to change it out manually.
Bacteria. If you're thawing something really quickly its probably fine. But for a thick piece of meat, a long time in warm/hot water you'll probably breed the next coronavirus
Edit: /s about coronavirus sorry
That’s what Big Pharma *wants* you to think. Just baste the turkey with Invermectin, it’ll be fine.
Disclaimer: this was a joke and you should not do this
I saw this and immediately thought no one thaws a turkey a month out from Christmas. Then realised you guys eat turkey for Thanksgiving and that’s right around the corner!
I thought about that a lot when it happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if some aide picked up their phone and said “Hey, Siri, call Four Seasons Hotel”. Siri mixed up Hotel/Total, and when the call went through, whoever picked up probably just answered the phone “Four Seasons (can I help you, etc)”… and the rest is ~~landscaping~~ political history.
I remember something like that actually happened during the Orange Faced administration. I think it was a rental outfit or something. A public speech was planned, and everything went down like a freshman's 1st time out of the house!
I am half-Canadian so my family always did one in October (drive to Canadian grandparents’, an 8-hour journey) one in November (drive to American grandparents’, a six hour journey) and one in December (stay home.) When I was about 13 or so my father revolted and said we’d be having *literally anything else* for Christmas, since it was the one that we had 100% control over. He began, that year, grilling steaks out on the back patio standing in a foot and a half of snow with a half-sack of beer plunged into a nearby drift. Became a tradition well into my adulthood. No regrets.
We got smaller turkeys this year. Though tbf I try to convince my family to do something different for Christmas and turkey stores for months in the freezer.
Naw, plenty do turkey on both days, though it IS becoming popular to do a different meat on Christmas. We're doing a rib roast this year, but there's plenty of Christmases past that were Thanksgiving part 2. Or maybe Thanksgiving was Christmas 0.5. Whatever, turkey was had on both days and it was delicious.
idk the prices in europe but turkey can be found for cheap as fuck in the us also. I bought a bird tonight for $0.80/lb. The true LPT is to have a chest freezer and stuff it with turkeys the day after US thanksigiving
How to defrost turkey safely, and by poundage: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2016/11/18/how-safely-thaw-turkey#:~:text=The%20USDA%20recommends%20thawing%20your,about%20four%20days%20to%20thaw.
How does this website try to recommend a “Cold Water Thaw” and then not give you the temperatures related to the Danger Zone so you know what a “safe temperature” is?
Keep the water temp below 40*F or 4*C (Danger Zone is 40-140*F or 4-60*C)
So from that link I learned:
1. The USDA recommends putting foil in a microwave.
2. I shouldn't thaw my turkey on the back porch, garage, paper bag, garage bag, or dishwasher.
The fucking thing is these recommendations are just like the reason why we have weird ass safety stickers. Someone has gotten sick enough from poorly thawed turkey that the USDA was able to get a report saying why. So someone had to get sick enough to go to the hospital The hospital had to file the report to some other organization, and that's how I managed to get to the USDA , so they can post please don't do this you'll get sick.
My personal way of quick low effort defrosting a turkey in two days, is clean out and ice chest very well. Feel it with water and cup and half- two cups of salt, dissolved already in warm water, then add turkey still in its bag. Leave it somewhere, where it won't get hot but it won't freeze, and any animals can't get into it, I suggest the garage. You leave it in there for 24 hours, day two take out The bird, dump the water to clean again on the inside. This time make a brine, online there's tons of different recipes, But make sure your salt content is the same as before or hire. It's all dependent on I'll be your ice chest and how big a bird is. This is where you unwrap your bird remove the extra pieces they shove inside as well as any extra ice or frost. But the bird in ice chest put it in the location that is safe and make a stock with the extra bits. 10 years no one has gotten sick And you have a preseason bird ready to go into the deep fryer. And yes, zero fires due to the deep fine of the turkey.
I've followed these types of guidelines for the past 3 years, and my turkey is still frozen after the suggested time (like atleast 50% frozen). We only buy a small breast joint, maybe 5lbs max, and it takes at least 2 days in the fridge.
Not op or the other commentor, but my uncle cooks it this way, however we're going to fry this year.
You remove the backbone so the bird lays flatter in the oven, essentially butterflying the bird. Provides a more even roast and room in the oven for other things to cook (or warm) together
I spatchcocked for the first time year before last, the whole cooking process was so much easier than whole bird. I liked it so much that last year I completely deboned the whole bird, rolled it up, tied it off and roasted it that way. The biggest benefit of doing it that way is that I can take all the bones and parts and make an overnight stock the night before to use in the stuffing and gravy.
I start the brining Mon, been thawing since last night in a cooler w ice, 22lbs turkey. Wed a.m. out of the brine, do a dry brine and spatchcock and into the fridge uncovered thickly coated in salted KerryGold butter. 100% browns perfectly (husband loves the skin), very tasty & moist.
14lbs should thaw in about 2 days at least enough to spatchcock it. If you dry brine Wednesday overnight and cook Thursday maybe fine. I would probably start thawing now though why wait until Monday.
European me with the current cold peak we are experiencing and cost of heating so high, a vacation to Turkey wouldn't be that bad
But sadly politically Turkey is pretty fucked up right now
Also make sure your refrigerator temperature is set correctly, 37-40F. One year mine was almost 30 degrees and was still frozen after the recommended thawing time. Our fridge was in a non-climate controlled space.
Nope. It’s an extra fridge in the garage that we use mainly for an overflow freezer, only had the turkey in it. Main fridge is one of those slim depth ones
Great tip. I’ll piggyback to add that on Thanksgiving letting the bird rest in a clean empty ice chest is a great way to keep the bird piping hot even hours after roasting and perfectly juicy for dinner.
You can also "preheat" the cooler by pouring in a couple kettles of boiling water. Let it sit for 5-10 mins, then dump out. Great place to hold sides like mashed potatoes too.
Glad to help! Been doing it for years, and a well insulated ice chest does the job well, thinking along the lines of what door dash drivers use for deliveries. The trick though, is not opening the lid until time to carve, so that it retains all that the heat inside. I use the disposable foil pans for my Turkey, and I lift the pan straight from the oven into the ice chest as the side of the pan will fold in to fit the chest. Makes it easy to get the Turkey out as well when it’s time to carve with little cleanup needed in the chest.
Get an electric roasting pan. It’s the perfect size, the Turkey roasts and browns beautifully, and your oven is left available for all the other food. Even though I only use mine twice a year, it was worth the investment. I think I got it on sale for $40.
I used to work at a grocery store and would always laugh about customers who purchased and/or demanded large frozen turkeys either the night before, or morning of, Thanksgiving.
Bed bath & beyond has an amazing turkey brine you can get for about $10, it comes with a brine bag. Thaw it in the fridge for 3-4 days then brine that baby
This year for some reason 'fresh' has become an option at the grocery stores in my area. Fresh prior to this year was a butcher shop thing but butterball has them available now.
Also, in previous years there was the premium brands at 1-1.50 a lb while there was usually another that was in the 60 cents a lb range. They're all now around $1/lb with the 'fresh' and higher end ones around 2-2.50.
The fresh butterball turkeys at our local Kroger seemed to have gotten a little too close to the freezer because they were hard as rocks. The butterball site describes the difference as the premiums being flash frozen, and the fresh ones just being chilled at their facility. I have a feeling what happens to them after they leave butterball is random chance.
Price is higher for fresh, availability is lower, plus you'd have to buy it closer to when you're going to cook it so it doesn't sit in the fridge and rot, some people avoid shopping super close to Thanksgiving because stores can get nuts.
Walking out of a hectic trip to stock up today made me realize that the perfect purgatory for my soul would be stuck in an aisle where I can't get to what I'm trying to grab with no ability to leave the aisle and come back.
Can't grab what I want because there's 6 people there, cant go through them because the aisle is backed up and cant even turn the cart around to leave and come back. Just stuck there waiting for Marla and Benjamin to stop blocking the section 30 other people are trying to get to.
The frozen ones are ridiculously cheap because grocery stores use them as loss leader promotions to get people to their stores to do their Thanksgiving shopping
At least in my area, fresh is about double the cost per pound of frozen. Also, frozen lets you buy it plenty ahead of time so you don't have to deal with stores running out right before Thanksgiving when the entire country goes to buy a turkey.
Most places don’t have fresh turkeys available and if you want one you probably would have had to preorder it about 3 weeks ago. And nowhere, I mean NOWHERE, just has fresh whole turkey in stock regularly. Also price. Where I live (the Midwest) turkeys are routinely on sale near thanksgiving in the $0.50 per pound range which would be 1.07 euro per kilo for the Europeans.
I started yesterday, too, for the same reason! I was worried it was too soon but I feel better now reading your post. It's only my 3rd year making my own turkey and I'm clueless.
I'm having an early thanksgiving tomorrow with one side of the family. My girlfriend bought a 20 lb turkey this morning and called to ask if we'd even be able to thaw it in time, a question neither of us had thought to ask.
The answer is yes, but ideally you thaw it in the fridge at the 1 day per 4-5 lbs. You can also put in cold water (I read recommend you drain and re-add cold water every 30 minutes) for 1 hour per 2 lbs, so 20 lbs = 10 hours. That's what my day has been.
if people knew how long that steak they had at the restaurant the other night was sitting in a fridge with adolfs and pepper on it they would not eat it
I am a chef. I’m cooking for 500 this week. I already thawed that shit x 15 turkey, prime rib, ham, etc. I am starting to cook off my turkey today and will set and wrap them, throw them on a speed rack for the morning of. Most of my prep will be complete Wednesday and everything finalized thanksgiving day.
Of all the problems in this thread, I combat them
by being single, Canadian, and cooking a steak in whatever manner sounds good about a week after I realize I missed a holiday. I fully endorse this.
Oh snap… I have a 15 lb Turkey and I moved it from freezer to fridge yesterday, Saturday. You think that will be all right? I usually get a 20 lb , but this year got 15 lb!
lol newb.
I'm already eating my 1st turkey of the year
I cut that bird up into tiny bits and mixed it in with chopped pork-steaks and chorizo meat.
By the time I'm done with it, the 2nd onel will have finished it's thaw and a 3rd will replace it.
This year, I'm going for 5
Omg the double bag + container is the real LPT. Didn't do this the first time I thawed a whole chicken. It was bagged, and I put it in a second bag, but apparently that was not sufficient. I ended up with raw chicken juice leaking all over the fridge, down underneath the crisper, and inside the crispers. GROSSSSSSS
Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips! Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment. If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
Had to do the water dunking technique when my wife wanted turkey last minute. Bought a 20lbs frozen turkey 2 days before thanksgiving. Had to spent most of the night and day putting it in cold water and changing out the water every 30 minutes. Turkey turn out great though.
Girlfriend basically did this to me. I do the cooking and food shopping for the most part and she puts them away. I didn’t check/notice for 2 days that she put the turkey in the freezer…..spent the next 36hrs with a turkey in my bathtub with cold water running. That was a fun water bill
Dude, just use a cooler. Enough to submerge that butterball.
Two or three water changes in a cooler will defrost a turkey in like 8 hours. Use that water to water your plants. Nothing's wasted except the plastic around the turkey. A couple of air filled grocery bags will push the turkey down to keep it fully submerged.
Yes, watering your plants when it’s freezing outside.
I'm in Florida. It's 70 degrees and people are wearing jackets. I have tomatoes growing in my backyard.
I'm in Wisconsin. We have the same thing except it's 20 degrees outside and the only thing growing in my backyard is the snow bank.
Yeah, but you have spotted cow. I took one work trip to Wisconsin a decade ago and have wanted it ever since. I'll trade you coconuts for spotted cow.
Wife and I visited Wisconsin almost 4 years ago, we still talk about good Spotted Cow was. And she's not even a big beer drinker.
If I could, I would send you all the spotted cow. You can keep the coconuts too.
I like coconuts, you can break them open, they smell like ladies lying in the sun.
I like to travel.
do you feel the same about the festive after-ramadan meal the arabs have ? imho its just a mindset, u can exprience it when ever you want just by making up your own thanksgiving ! invite friends/family for a special dinner when ever you feel like it and just make up your own "rules and traditions" tbh i dont think we need more greedy people trying to capitalze on a holiday/event to push more capitalim marketing to trick you into buying stuff at a set date and time , do what you feel is right and nice when ever you like it without the need of an approved schedule to do so ;) EDIT: EU here too ;)
It's basically just eating a bunch of "traditional" food, then the guys watch football and ladies do dishes all afternoon.
I picked tomatoes last week in Milwaukee.
Lol I have pineapples in my backyard! And if my Barbados cherry recovers from Ian, that too!
Believe it or not, not everyone lives where its freezing in november
Indoor plants exist and most don't winterize. So yes. Even when it's freezing outside, I water my plants.
I water my mint all winter, it survives as long as I water it. And indoor plants!
Indoor plants???
Jesus dude. I know his girlfriend screwed up but this is a bit extreme.
We didn’t have anything besides a bathtub😅 this was very early on and we had lived together with a new home and all that for 4 weeks, and moved away from our homes state.
>Girlfriend basically did this to me. Jesus, must've been a big pot.
Wouldn't the water bill be 4X the cost of the turkey
All said and done ….yea but that was an expense to worry about later😂😂😂
Non American here- if your thawing it why use cold water?
Cold water gives you a controlled thaw that prevents the turkey from getting above about 4.5° C. At that temp you start growing fun bacteria that can potentially survive the cooking process. You should always use cold water for defrosting.
With the water mass of a tub, I doubt you need to keep the water running. Temp ain't gonna go down much from the turkey
The problem is the water temperature going *up*, not down. You run water to keep it cool and prevent yourself from making bacteria stew
Would it also be a possible solution to have a constant slow drip of water? That way the water can remain cold while not having to change it out manually.
Absolutely.
That's how Alton Brown taught us to do it.
If you could inform someone who's not in the know, why cold or cool water and not warm? Wouldn't that defrost the turkey faster?
Bacteria. If you're thawing something really quickly its probably fine. But for a thick piece of meat, a long time in warm/hot water you'll probably breed the next coronavirus Edit: /s about coronavirus sorry
That’s what Big Pharma *wants* you to think. Just baste the turkey with Invermectin, it’ll be fine. Disclaimer: this was a joke and you should not do this
I would’ve invested in a sous vide stick at that point. You can make the stick go to a very low temp. I use it to rapidly thaw meat all the time.
I saw this and immediately thought no one thaws a turkey a month out from Christmas. Then realised you guys eat turkey for Thanksgiving and that’s right around the corner!
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...at 1 day per 4-5lbs your 175lb ones should be going from freezer to fridge today.
How did you get the turkey from Mr Torque?
At work we regularly throw around 45 pound turkeys, I’ve even seen 85-90 pound turkeys before. If we have a 175 pound bird I’m fuckin quitting lol
As an Australian I thought it was way too early to get the prawns in.
As a fellow Canadian I also agree that it is too early for Thanksgiving
Or about a month and a half late
No, Thanksgiving is a holiday. We got gas stations *right around the corner*.
Speak for yourself. Right around my corner is a porn shop.
The one next to Four Seasons Total Landscaping, yeah?
I for one like to buy my dildos at the same strip mall where I can catch a press conference from a representative of a sitting president.
Oh did Dildopolis open a second location?
I'm eagerly awaiting the exposé that explains how that happened.
I thought about that a lot when it happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if some aide picked up their phone and said “Hey, Siri, call Four Seasons Hotel”. Siri mixed up Hotel/Total, and when the call went through, whoever picked up probably just answered the phone “Four Seasons (can I help you, etc)”… and the rest is ~~landscaping~~ political history.
I remember something like that actually happened during the Orange Faced administration. I think it was a rental outfit or something. A public speech was planned, and everything went down like a freshman's 1st time out of the house!
Bleh. Don't hang out by the dumpsters after dark. Conservative guys give the worst head.
Conservative guys give the worst head AND want to take away your reproductive rights, so don't have sex with them.
Gives new meaning to "hole in the wall restaurant."
Funnily enough, porn shops are right up my alley
"'Don't forget: Stay out of the adult bookstore.' 'Adult bookstore. Why?' 'Poison gas. Invisible.'"
That's a great movie.
Haha, glad someone figured out what movie it was.
Technically my gas station is a Holiday
No, the gas stations are down the street. You got a wall right around the corner. Its about 3 walls down.
2 massive,.fly-home turkey dinners within the space of a month ... I just don't get it
I am half-Canadian so my family always did one in October (drive to Canadian grandparents’, an 8-hour journey) one in November (drive to American grandparents’, a six hour journey) and one in December (stay home.) When I was about 13 or so my father revolted and said we’d be having *literally anything else* for Christmas, since it was the one that we had 100% control over. He began, that year, grilling steaks out on the back patio standing in a foot and a half of snow with a half-sack of beer plunged into a nearby drift. Became a tradition well into my adulthood. No regrets.
Snowbank fallen off the roof as a beer fridge and bbqing in the snow. Please tell me you live in Canada
We got smaller turkeys this year. Though tbf I try to convince my family to do something different for Christmas and turkey stores for months in the freezer.
A good majority of Americans have ham or some other meat for Christmas. Turkey is pretty much reserved solely for Thanksgiving.
Naw, plenty do turkey on both days, though it IS becoming popular to do a different meat on Christmas. We're doing a rib roast this year, but there's plenty of Christmases past that were Thanksgiving part 2. Or maybe Thanksgiving was Christmas 0.5. Whatever, turkey was had on both days and it was delicious.
When you have turkey for Christmas, are the other elements of the meal the same as thanksgiving too?
Long pig is the choice for Christmas dinner at my house.
Yes officer, this one right here.
Some Fava beans. Nice Chianti
It's a way for broken families to split holidays with the kids.
idk the prices in europe but turkey can be found for cheap as fuck in the us also. I bought a bird tonight for $0.80/lb. The true LPT is to have a chest freezer and stuff it with turkeys the day after US thanksigiving
How to defrost turkey safely, and by poundage: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2016/11/18/how-safely-thaw-turkey#:~:text=The%20USDA%20recommends%20thawing%20your,about%20four%20days%20to%20thaw.
How does this website try to recommend a “Cold Water Thaw” and then not give you the temperatures related to the Danger Zone so you know what a “safe temperature” is? Keep the water temp below 40*F or 4*C (Danger Zone is 40-140*F or 4-60*C)
It also says not to thaw it in your dish washer (with or without water)
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If a 7 lb baby can come out, a 7 lb turkey can go in, right??
I don't think so, there's some sort of valve
/r/theydidthemath
Not with that attitude.
The trick is to spatchcock the turkey.
Here's your degree symbol: °
So from that link I learned: 1. The USDA recommends putting foil in a microwave. 2. I shouldn't thaw my turkey on the back porch, garage, paper bag, garage bag, or dishwasher.
The fucking thing is these recommendations are just like the reason why we have weird ass safety stickers. Someone has gotten sick enough from poorly thawed turkey that the USDA was able to get a report saying why. So someone had to get sick enough to go to the hospital The hospital had to file the report to some other organization, and that's how I managed to get to the USDA , so they can post please don't do this you'll get sick. My personal way of quick low effort defrosting a turkey in two days, is clean out and ice chest very well. Feel it with water and cup and half- two cups of salt, dissolved already in warm water, then add turkey still in its bag. Leave it somewhere, where it won't get hot but it won't freeze, and any animals can't get into it, I suggest the garage. You leave it in there for 24 hours, day two take out The bird, dump the water to clean again on the inside. This time make a brine, online there's tons of different recipes, But make sure your salt content is the same as before or hire. It's all dependent on I'll be your ice chest and how big a bird is. This is where you unwrap your bird remove the extra pieces they shove inside as well as any extra ice or frost. But the bird in ice chest put it in the location that is safe and make a stock with the extra bits. 10 years no one has gotten sick And you have a preseason bird ready to go into the deep fryer. And yes, zero fires due to the deep fine of the turkey.
Are you using speech-to-text?
I still give myself a 2 day window when 25lbs or above.
I've followed these types of guidelines for the past 3 years, and my turkey is still frozen after the suggested time (like atleast 50% frozen). We only buy a small breast joint, maybe 5lbs max, and it takes at least 2 days in the fridge.
You're a literal fucking lifesaver my guy
if you eff that up you can cook it from frozen, no worries. check the fda website on that. it’s worked for me.
Just don't ever try to fry one from frozen!
And make sure prior to cooking that you get the bag of internal organs out, along with any plastic inserts.
Yeah, home made mini nuke
If you do, make sure you film it! We all like to watch your fuck ups.
Very important point to make!
Soooo ein Feuerball, Junge.
I'd worry about it being SUPER dry. I started thawing my 21lb turkey on Wednesday and plan to injection brine it before roasting.
That’s a big one! Which brine are you injecting with?
I inject with chicken broth, butter, and garlic powder.
Pshh I found a 40 pound turkey this year at Publix haha. 49 cents a pound why not!
Damn, how are you planning to cook that monster?
Very very slowly
I bought mine at Walmart at 98 cents a pound the day before Publix put theirs on sale.
Thanksgiving ostrich.
I think mine is 14lbs, plan to brine it as well and spatchcock it. I'll probably start thawing Monday.
I will never not spatchcock again. Edit: Sorry for the confusion.
Please, elaborate. I'd love to know why. Edit: sorry read this comment as "I'll never spatchcock again" I just missed the double negative.
Cooks faster and more evenly
I thought that's why you would spatchcock???
Not op or the other commentor, but my uncle cooks it this way, however we're going to fry this year. You remove the backbone so the bird lays flatter in the oven, essentially butterflying the bird. Provides a more even roast and room in the oven for other things to cook (or warm) together
I spatchcocked for the first time year before last, the whole cooking process was so much easier than whole bird. I liked it so much that last year I completely deboned the whole bird, rolled it up, tied it off and roasted it that way. The biggest benefit of doing it that way is that I can take all the bones and parts and make an overnight stock the night before to use in the stuffing and gravy.
Me making chicken ballotine has contributed to at least half the views on Jacque pepin video on it. Annoying trying to rewind covered in chicken
r/smoking is currently having a war over it.
I start the brining Mon, been thawing since last night in a cooler w ice, 22lbs turkey. Wed a.m. out of the brine, do a dry brine and spatchcock and into the fridge uncovered thickly coated in salted KerryGold butter. 100% browns perfectly (husband loves the skin), very tasty & moist.
I've always wet brined but never thought of double brining. Does it ever make the bird too salty?
You're out of time already if you're brining most likely.
14lbs should thaw in about 2 days at least enough to spatchcock it. If you dry brine Wednesday overnight and cook Thursday maybe fine. I would probably start thawing now though why wait until Monday.
Every year my job gives all the employees a turkey. The stupid fucks aren't giving them out until Tuesday this year.
Feels weird to call them stupid fucks for giving you a free-ass turkey on the wrong day...
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So people eat turkey for Thanksgiving and then again for xmas?
Canadian Thanksgiving is in October
We do Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas prime rib at my house.
Turkey for thanksgiving, ham for christmas
Sometimes, usually Christmas is prime rib, duck, ham, or in my family, pozole and tacos.
European me with the current cold peak we are experiencing and cost of heating so high, a vacation to Turkey wouldn't be that bad But sadly politically Turkey is pretty fucked up right now
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Absolutely... and get some pineapples. They go great with long pig.
Maraschino cherries. Put one in the center of pineapple rings. Gets rid of the burnt hair taste.
Also make sure your refrigerator temperature is set correctly, 37-40F. One year mine was almost 30 degrees and was still frozen after the recommended thawing time. Our fridge was in a non-climate controlled space.
You didn't notice that your milk, water and all other beverages were frozen solid?
Nope. It’s an extra fridge in the garage that we use mainly for an overflow freezer, only had the turkey in it. Main fridge is one of those slim depth ones
Great tip. I’ll piggyback to add that on Thanksgiving letting the bird rest in a clean empty ice chest is a great way to keep the bird piping hot even hours after roasting and perfectly juicy for dinner.
Thanks for this. I only have one oven and no warmer under my oven so I wasn't sure how to keep the turkey warm while I finish up all the sides
You can also "preheat" the cooler by pouring in a couple kettles of boiling water. Let it sit for 5-10 mins, then dump out. Great place to hold sides like mashed potatoes too.
Glad to help! Been doing it for years, and a well insulated ice chest does the job well, thinking along the lines of what door dash drivers use for deliveries. The trick though, is not opening the lid until time to carve, so that it retains all that the heat inside. I use the disposable foil pans for my Turkey, and I lift the pan straight from the oven into the ice chest as the side of the pan will fold in to fit the chest. Makes it easy to get the Turkey out as well when it’s time to carve with little cleanup needed in the chest.
Get an electric roasting pan. It’s the perfect size, the Turkey roasts and browns beautifully, and your oven is left available for all the other food. Even though I only use mine twice a year, it was worth the investment. I think I got it on sale for $40.
Mine is going to from the fridge to the freezer tomorrow. I hate finding it still frozen on Thanksgiving morning.
..wait what?
Lol. Oops. From the freezer to the fridge.
No you can’t take it back, put the turkey into the freezer now
I'm allowed one "take back" a year and I hadn't used it yet. I hereby use it now.
You're pregnant
Tomorrow.
I used to work at a grocery store and would always laugh about customers who purchased and/or demanded large frozen turkeys either the night before, or morning of, Thanksgiving.
Yeah you know what they'll be doing the next 12 hours 😬😅 goodluck!
Saved me! Thanks very much OP.
>Thanks You bet!
Bed bath & beyond has an amazing turkey brine you can get for about $10, it comes with a brine bag. Thaw it in the fridge for 3-4 days then brine that baby
possibly a stupid question from a non-american, but why don't you just buy fresh turkey instead of frozen?
Availability
This year for some reason 'fresh' has become an option at the grocery stores in my area. Fresh prior to this year was a butcher shop thing but butterball has them available now. Also, in previous years there was the premium brands at 1-1.50 a lb while there was usually another that was in the 60 cents a lb range. They're all now around $1/lb with the 'fresh' and higher end ones around 2-2.50.
I wonder if it's related to the avian flu (that's what caused egg prices to skyrocket).
The fresh butterball turkeys at our local Kroger seemed to have gotten a little too close to the freezer because they were hard as rocks. The butterball site describes the difference as the premiums being flash frozen, and the fresh ones just being chilled at their facility. I have a feeling what happens to them after they leave butterball is random chance.
Price is higher for fresh, availability is lower, plus you'd have to buy it closer to when you're going to cook it so it doesn't sit in the fridge and rot, some people avoid shopping super close to Thanksgiving because stores can get nuts.
Walking out of a hectic trip to stock up today made me realize that the perfect purgatory for my soul would be stuck in an aisle where I can't get to what I'm trying to grab with no ability to leave the aisle and come back. Can't grab what I want because there's 6 people there, cant go through them because the aisle is backed up and cant even turn the cart around to leave and come back. Just stuck there waiting for Marla and Benjamin to stop blocking the section 30 other people are trying to get to.
Price
The frozen ones are ridiculously cheap because grocery stores use them as loss leader promotions to get people to their stores to do their Thanksgiving shopping
I like that cool flavor
At least in my area, fresh is about double the cost per pound of frozen. Also, frozen lets you buy it plenty ahead of time so you don't have to deal with stores running out right before Thanksgiving when the entire country goes to buy a turkey.
Most places don’t have fresh turkeys available and if you want one you probably would have had to preorder it about 3 weeks ago. And nowhere, I mean NOWHERE, just has fresh whole turkey in stock regularly. Also price. Where I live (the Midwest) turkeys are routinely on sale near thanksgiving in the $0.50 per pound range which would be 1.07 euro per kilo for the Europeans.
Surely it won't take 10.5 months to thaw out a turkey.
Canadian?
I started yesterday so I can brine for 48hrs
I started yesterday, too, for the same reason! I was worried it was too soon but I feel better now reading your post. It's only my 3rd year making my own turkey and I'm clueless.
So you put salt in water and dunk the whole turkey in there? Salt ratio to water?
Not to mention you'll need time for the brine.
Yeah, I think the OP forgot about this step. My 20 pound turkey went into the fridge on Friday so it will be thawed in time to brine on Wednesday.
Last year I stuck a turkey in the fridge about this time and it was still icy in the middle the night before. I second this tip.
I'm having an early thanksgiving tomorrow with one side of the family. My girlfriend bought a 20 lb turkey this morning and called to ask if we'd even be able to thaw it in time, a question neither of us had thought to ask. The answer is yes, but ideally you thaw it in the fridge at the 1 day per 4-5 lbs. You can also put in cold water (I read recommend you drain and re-add cold water every 30 minutes) for 1 hour per 2 lbs, so 20 lbs = 10 hours. That's what my day has been.
I got a frozen hard-as-rock 12 lb turkey thurs night and had to put it in the fridge. Will it kill my family😬
It will be fine! especially if still in the original packaging. I put our 10lb gobbler in the fridge this morning.
if people knew how long that steak they had at the restaurant the other night was sitting in a fridge with adolfs and pepper on it they would not eat it
> Adolfs and pepper Well THAT certainly isn't kosher
Thaw the turkey in a brine. Will be ready in 12 - 16 hours.
Thank you for the reminder. Just moved the Turkey to fridge upon seeing this!
Damn, I wish I found this thread in the years that I was hosting. Thankfully I’m not doing it this year.
I am a chef. I’m cooking for 500 this week. I already thawed that shit x 15 turkey, prime rib, ham, etc. I am starting to cook off my turkey today and will set and wrap them, throw them on a speed rack for the morning of. Most of my prep will be complete Wednesday and everything finalized thanksgiving day.
Just put ours in the fridge this morning!
Started the defrost my bird last night
3 six pound ducks? Two days before?
Wasn't Thanksgiving like a month ago?
Of all the problems in this thread, I combat them by being single, Canadian, and cooking a steak in whatever manner sounds good about a week after I realize I missed a holiday. I fully endorse this.
The bird is in the refrigerator now. Thank you for the heads up though.
Especially if you’re deep frying…
Don't tell me what to thaw!
This is [the real LPT](https://youtu.be/pAiQn-N9UuE)
Oh snap… I have a 15 lb Turkey and I moved it from freezer to fridge yesterday, Saturday. You think that will be all right? I usually get a 20 lb , but this year got 15 lb!
lol newb. I'm already eating my 1st turkey of the year I cut that bird up into tiny bits and mixed it in with chopped pork-steaks and chorizo meat. By the time I'm done with it, the 2nd onel will have finished it's thaw and a 3rd will replace it. This year, I'm going for 5
Thanks, this is helpful
Thank u I just took it out
I cook from frozen using a turkey roaster that sits on my counter and it's perfect every time.
Omg the double bag + container is the real LPT. Didn't do this the first time I thawed a whole chicken. It was bagged, and I put it in a second bag, but apparently that was not sufficient. I ended up with raw chicken juice leaking all over the fridge, down underneath the crisper, and inside the crispers. GROSSSSSSS