Following Meatheads guideline for Turkey awesomeness. Has worked flawless for several years. But this year is different. Unpacked it this morning and its still rock solid. Can’t pull the guts out. Frozen. Thought I could cut out backbone to help things along. Nope.
How do I thaw this bird? Don’t have a bag big enough to submerge it in water.
Just to be sure and not be rushed tomorrow, I’d thaw it in the sink today. You could then dry brine it overnight or just put it on a platter covered in the fridge.
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Wrap it in a bag, submerge it in an ice chest full of water, throw ice cubes in the water. If it's under 38-40 overall, it's completely safe. Can do it without a bag, but if it's a pure water soak, it may pull some salt (and flavor) out of your bird. Could measure the water you're putting in and make it a 5% salt solution (or 3 or 4%) and it'll function as a brine AS it thaws.
If it's been thawing in the fridge several days, 8 hours may be enough, 12 hours should be plenty. Just keep putting a couple scoops of ice in every few hours to keep temps below 38 or so.
You could always just mummify the thing in plastic wrap before submerging if you don't have a bag big enough. Even a 4-5 hour soak in a sink or pot of water should do the trick or at least get it thawed enough.
Even if you can get it thawed enough to pull out the neck and giblets you can still cook it partially frozen. Just start at a lower temp for an hour or two and then crank the heat. But if you can give it a soak and spatchcock it and put it in the fridge today I would guess it will be thawed enough by tomorrow. Even if you don't spatchcock it once you clear the giblets and neck out things should start to thaw quicker.
I don’t have anything to contribute to the rapid defrost, but I put mine in the frig the Wednesday before the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. So, if it isn’t defrosted by Thanksgiving it will give a big jumpstart.
Did the same, put the bird in the fridge a week ago today. My lovely bride just finished pulling the giblets and dry brining it - all good. She looked askance at my bringing it out a week ago, but is now convinced: a week to thaw
DaveD It is not quite that long with a frozen Boston Butt, but 6 or 7 days is safe. Five days might be a little tight and then it starts messing with your cook times.
I’m currently doing a quick thaw on mine. In a big stock pot the bird happens to fit in.
My in-laws bought the turkey this year and I asked my wife to have them put it in the fridge by Friday. Found out last night when we picked it up that it didn’t go in the fridge until Tuesday.
It’s small enough that it shouldn’t be a problem. Just wanna make sure it’s thawed enough to spatchcock and dry brine tonight!
Just checked our birds. The smaller one in the bottom of the frig is still frozen,12 lb. It was put in Saturday evening. I moved it to the top shelf, hopefully by morning. If not, manual thawing. This is the one we will smoke before frying.
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