Thawing turkeys

There is no safe way to thaw a turkey at any temperature above 40*f. My suggestion would be to turn the temp up to 39 degrees in your beer fridge.

I have thawed turkeys overnight in a salt water brine. Dont know how safe it is but nobody ever got sick.

How much extra time would be needed to put in smoker frozen. We place frozen in the oven and cook until done every year!I have no clue if you could smoke it that way.It would clearly be safer!:icon_bugeyed

I can't see why a big cooler amd some towels wouldn't work. Watch them closely, though. Don't want to go from thawing to spoiling...

jonboy said:

I am reading about thawing in refrigerator for several days, thawing in water(changing every 30 mins) and microwaving.
I would like to buy fresh but they arent available.
How would a resturant thaw multiple turkeys?
It seems that we would put them overnight on the prep sinks and allow to stand/thaw....but i am not sure.
jon

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thats pretty much it.if you have a large icechest just fill it w/ cold water & add birds. you'll probably have to change water a couple times but it works.

maxwell7 said:

How much extra time would be needed to put in smoker frozen. We place frozen in the oven and cook until done every year!I have no clue if you could smoke it that way.It would clearly be safer!:icon_bugeyed

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I would never do as mentioned here. A turkey lingers long enough in the danger zone when smoked thawed or fresh. Smoking frozen bird would place it in that danger zone for a very long period of time. Just my 2 cents

I have done a few in a big igloo cooler just keep a probe in there in the water and change the water out w fresh cold water. I have also done a few while I brined them like other have said above. :-D

I thawed two large birds last year in my bathtub ( cleaned very good of course ) worked well - easy to change the water

I cook several turkeys every year around the holidays. I use the bathtub... Set the birds in the tub and fill it up with cold water. Drain and refill the tub every 20-30 minutes. The birds will thaw fairly quick... I then smoke/roast them in the pit at temps averaging 325°. As long as you thaw them quick and cook 'em quick, you should be OK. Poultry takes on some easily and quickly, so there is no real need to do them low and slow.

My family always put the bird in a 5 gal bucket with ice water overnight (with lid). No one has ever gotten sick from it. Though this may not work for larger birds as we usually only had 12-14#.

Got this from a reliable source, it's never failed me - seattlepitboss

Frozen turkey thawing time table

Weight Time in refrigerator Time in cold water
4 to 12 lbs. 1 to 3 days 2 to 6 hours
12 to 16 lbs. 3 to 4 days 6 to 8 hours
16 to 20 lbs. 4 to 5 days 8 to 10 hours
21 to 24 lbs. 5 to 6 days 10 to 12 hours

Around here I cook my bird on Wednesday, then bone it all the way out and cook the carcass in the stock pot, saving the meat & gravy-makings for the next day. That way I get all the heavy cleanup done before anyone even thinks about showing up and I don't have to do so much on the day itself. To cook a 21# deeply frozen bird on a Wednesday, I remove it to the refrigerator the previous Friday. Works every time.