Safe way to thaw a whole chicken

[Razor]

If it doesn’t kill you it just makes you stronger.

[SheilaAnn]

Santamarina while I personally won’t employ this method, I will gladly advise on other simple sous vide methods. Or provide educational links 🤓

[Santamarina]

This just added another bullet point to the "why I need a sous vide setup"list!

[jfmorris]

I came across this picture from about 10 years ago, and could not resist sharing.... talk about "unsafe" thawing temperatures! I did this though, and everyone survived... I think I was just trying to speed up a thaw that had not progressed as quickly as hoped in the fridge, and let them float, changing the water several times for a few hours...

[rickgregory]

I mean, you could but it's the same thing as above, without the circulation and you still can't just walk away unless your garage is cold or you have a bird sitting in water that's warm(ish).

[IowaGirl]

I agree with the tendency for large chickens to be a little tougher and drier, although that's not necessarily true if the chicken is a capon (castrated rooster). Dad used to caponize a few roosters for his mom when I was little. Decorah, Iowa, about 1/2 hour away from where I live now, used to have local farms that raised capons and a packing plant just for these birds. Those capons were as large as small turkeys and very moist and flavorful.

[grantgallagher]

this, is a very interesting idea.

[SheilaAnn]

"Kill two birds at one time"

bbqLuv I see what you did there….

[bbqLuv]

Kill two birds at one time.
You suggested good,
Treat yourself to a PBR.

[SheilaAnn]

Brine from frozen in a cooler in the garage? I’ve done that with turkey in the past.

[Razor]

I have put them in a big ziploc bag and plopped them in the SV with enough ice packs to get it to 40 - 45º. Add ice as necessary and run for a 2 - 3 hours. I imagine you could SV the whole thing to finish temp then chill and smoke/reheat, but I've haven't done that yet with a whole bird, just parts.

I do this all the time. I set the SV at 32 degrees so the heat never turns on. That cycling water really thaws stuff quickly.

[rickgregory]

Also, think of it this way. Say the chicken is in a 0F chest freezer. It's in a circulating, 55F bath to thaw. As the chicken warms it's at 3F, 7F, etc... to to 32F... not at 40F at all. Then it warms above freezing... 33, 34, etc. Finally, it hits 40F.

NOW you start the clock. But nothing is growing on it from 0 to ~ 40F regardless of time and at 35-40... it's thawed and you stop the process and prep the chicken. Again, you don't just walk away for hours and hours doing it this way.

[Pobeque]

This is how I've defrosted everything in professional commercial kitchens. Water bath, it should only take a couple of hours. Plus, according to the ServSafe certification I got a few years ago, the item has to be in the 'danger zone' of 40-145 for over 4 hours for bacteria to really get going.

[CaptainMike]

Yep, my mother did that for decades and so did I.

[rickgregory]

It is fast. That's the advantage. Now, I'd NOT do this with a large, whole turkey because that's too big and would need to sit out for too long. But a ~5-6lb chicken will be fine as it will be defrosted (i.e. a bit above freezing) in a couple of hours.