OT - Turkey

[DerbyBorn]

Ourfreexer is a bit too full to accomodate a frozen turkey. What do you reckon will be the earliest I should buy a frozen turkey without a freezer to store it in until time to defrost it.(Size for 8 - 10)

[Jim K]

Erm read defrost instructions & work backwards? Nb involves getting off arse... ;-)

Jim K

[fred]

In article , DerbyBorn writes

I'll be taking ours out first thing Monday morning to give it 24hrs to defrost as I will be prepping it and stuffing it the day before. I'll then be happy to cover it and leave it in a cool place for 24hrs before it goes in the oven.

If you were to buy a couple of bags of ice with it and lay it in a waterproof storage box with the ice then that'll give you an extra 24hrs in a cool place.

So tomorrow morning, which will likely be the quietest time to shop for it, most having gone nuts today and no-one gets up early on Sunday.

[DerbyBorn]

fred wrote in news:jLxY+ snipped-for-privacy@y.z:

Thanks for that (haven't seen the defrost instructions yet as I haven't bought it. Trying to avoid the shops a bit)

[alan]

You have the option of leaving it outside to defrost which will take longer because it will be a lot colder than indoors.

[Chris Hogg]

Game birds are usually 'hung' for several days before being cooked, so I reckon this near to Christmas you could thaw it any time now. See

[Tim Streater]

Interesting them saying that it involves hanging the entire bird. I earwigged a discussion once between a vet and a butcher (basically they were discussing abattoirs). The subject of hanging birds came up. My understanding was that the process didn't involve bacteria at all. It's all down to natural digestion, or softening, of the flesh by enzymes within the cells of the bird's body. I would have expected that the bird would be gutted, then hung.

[Scott M]

Not down here it's not - 10deg a little earlier tonight!

[Dave Liquorice]

You have your house at less than 10 C? Brrrr...

Outside (2 C) is currently colder than the inside fridge. Most of today has been just over 5 C outside so a "warm fridge". B-)

[Peter Parry]

Any time you like. Buy it tomorrow and wrap it in bubble wrap or a few towels, leave it somewhere cool like the fridge, garage or shed and it will be ready to cook on Wednesday. Buy it Monday and leave it in the same places but just wrapped in one towel.

[Scott M]

;-) 17 C does me indoors.

After being in people's idea of "normal" indoor temperature, I usually have to go and stand outside for a bit to cool down.

Has all been coming down over the Atlantic and up from Spain so been very warm and damp down here in the SW.

[stuart noble]

We had a cat that tried to run off with a defrosting chicken. Fortunately the cap flap wasn't quite big enough

[Tim Watts]

On Saturday 21 December 2013 15:09 Chris Hogg wrote in uk.d-i-y:

I wouldn't keep a thawed turkey for long after thawing.

Freezing damages the cell membranes due to ice crystal formation and, from what I understand from people who work in catering, tends to make the product deteriorate much faster than if it had merely been refridgerated.

I'd pick it up the day before and defrost it slowly in a cool location - like an ice box or a shady area outside out of sunlight. That's also a reasonable time to allow for a full thawing of a big bird which ensures safer cooking - nothing worse than trying to cook one with the middle and bones still frozen.

[Peter Parry]

If you defrost in a fridge or icebox a 5kg bird will take about two and a half days to defrost.

Defrost times are approximately :-

In a fridge at 4deg C - 10 to 12 hours per kg.

in a cool room 15-17deg C, three to four hours per kg.

At room temperature of 20deg C two hours per kg.

[PeterC]

Defrosting above fridge temperature allows plenty of time for bacteria to multiply in the relatively warm surface layer. I've always defrosted big items in the fridge. I wonder if it would be reasonable to defrost in an oven at, say, 70 - 80C?

[polygonum]

You'd be mad to try that. A wonderful way of encouraging bacterial growth.

Our oven has a defrost setting - so far as I can make out all it does is turn the fan on so that room-temperature air is constantly on the move past whatever is being defrosted.

I have not used it much but it does seem to be very effective. Not sure I would use it for a whole turkey - then again, I never buy a frozen turkey. Either a fresh turkey or something else. Life's too short to defrost a turkey (safely and effectively). :-)

[Dave Liquorice]

bacteria

defrosted

Not many bacteria survive above 80 C, I think 70 C isn't quite hot enough. So provided you heated the surafce to 70/80 C fairly quickly there wouldn't be much problem with bacteria but you'd be starting to cook the thing as it's about those temperature that protiens denature (maybe that's what kills the bacteria...). You'd also have trouble keeping it moist, think Chinses crispy duck...

[Tim Watts]

On Monday 23 December 2013 11:12 Dave Liquorice wrote in uk.d-i-y:

This is consistent with the advice for slow cooking (at 100C) overnight. You need to put it in an oven preheated to about 200C then turn it down to kill the bugs on the skin (from the factory, so the bugs are partly from sh*t and other contaminants).

I have done that a couple of times - only with a fresh turkey and I rinse it out with strong brine for good measure.

It is delicious though and a not so timing sensitive - ie you can keep it for a couple more hours inthe oven with no ill effect.

[PeterC]

That's the sort of thing I was wondering. 70C did seem a bit low, but my cooking abilities don't extend much beyond boiling eggs - and then I burn the water! I suppose 200C, fan on to heat the skin v. quickly, down to 100C and fan off so that there's no noise overnight should do it.

[Tim Watts]

On Monday 23 December 2013 13:34 PeterC wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Something like that :) and yes, 70C is way too low.

If you google for it, you will find millions of naysayers who say "don't do it, you will die of botulism". It is true that done badly, you might provide the few bugs present with an incubator for several hours which would be bad.

To be honest, you can do that anyway as 16lb birds well stuffed are a bugger to fast cook as the middle can be barely warm when the outside is charcoal!

But I would only start with a fresh bird and a brine wash to knock back some of the bugs. And use an oven thermometer and don't trust the oven's knob :)