My Turkey Sprun a Leak

[Bkhuna]

I was thawing out my turkey and yesterday, after a couple of days in the refer, I noticed a small tear in the plastic wrapper. So far my #17 Butterball has leaked about 3/4 cup of purge into the drip tray. I'm going to save the purge and add it to the stock for gravy but I was wondering if that amount would have any affect on the bird.

I plan on Spatchcocking the bird this evening and dry brining.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

2 of the 3 turkeys I've thawed this year leaked everywhere, thankfully the test turkey did it first so all remaining turkeys got thawed in a roasting pan in the fridge

[SheilaAnn]

This is so timely! I picked up my bird yesterday at the market. I shop around for a few other items. As I’m checking out, I notice an employee with a big roll of paper towels cleaning the floor. Apparently my bird leaked ALL OVER THE MARKET! And then continued to do so while paying. Apparently I was just enough ahead of her that she didn’t know it was me until the checkout stand.

I rolled up my sleeves and grabbed a trash can liner from behind the checkout stand. Checker helped me get the bird out of the box and into the bag. It was a comedy of errors. We sanitized the cart and checkout area. I went on my merry way, and I was “that guy” who held up the checkout line. So mortified.

now I’m just laughing at the whole scene! 🤣🤣🤣

[Draznnl]

Oh to have a video of you blithely going about your business while the poor, bedraggled store employee scurried along behind you cleaning your turkey’s mess. 🤣🤣🤣

[SheilaAnn]

Draznnl omg, yes! And I traversed that store, too! Now I feel bad…. 🙀🤣

[Draznnl]

No reason you should feel bad SheilaAnn . You didn’t bag the turkey wrong. You’re just the unknowing sap, in Yiddish you’d be the schlemiel. The poor guy cleaning up the mess would be the schlemazel. [Google away]

[DavidNorcross]

This happens for sure. Thankfully, I wet brine so it is not an issue. Since you are dry brining you should be good to go!

[Santamarina]

My professional opinion (which is to say “my humble, amateur home cook who’s got probably ten Thanksgiving cooks under my belt opinion”) is that you’ll be just fine.

This happened to me one of those first Thanksgiving’s we hosted, so now I always put the turkey on a deep baking sheet just in case.

[SheilaAnn]

I’m not worried about cleanliness or anything… ultimately crisis averted. Bird is spatchcocked, dry brining and resting comfortably 🫶🏻

[captainlee]

Both of ours are leaking, luckily we have them in a sheet pan. I think that the wrapper gets kicked while frozen and shipping causes them to rip.

[Rod]

In the last 10 years I've thawed a turkey in the fridge (after closely inspecting the packaging before purchase), I haven't had one that did not leak. I have learned to line a sheet pan with at least 2 layers of paper towels and put a wire grate on top of that and then place the frozen bird on the rack. Even just tonight when I pulled out my 16.5lber I should have gone with 3 layers of paper towels.

[fzxdoc]

Raw turkeys are messy. That's their job. Apparently.

I hate handling them in their raw state, but a cook's gotta do what a cook's gotta do. I decontaminate everything they even come close to, including myself.

Kathryn

[HawkerXP]

We place all raw meats still in store packaging on a plastic platter. Had to many leaks / floods.