Thawing meat in the refrigerator

[JCGrill]

OK, I know thawing in the refrigerator is the safe way to go, but I have terrible experience with it, because it takes forever. I have had a 9# turkey breast in the refrigerator for 12 days. Checked it today, and it wasn't rock solid, but significant parts of it were still frozen. So, water bath it is. But it seems like that should have been more than enough time?

[rickgregory]

If the meat is lower down, the fridge will be colder. The bottom shelf of my fridge is 34F. The top one is 38F. a 9lb breast from a chest freezer may well start at 0F and will thaw VERY slowly if the air temp around it is 34F.

[scottranda]

Take the innards out of it. Creates airflow and speeds it up.

[scottranda]

You can half or quarter the bird too.

[JCGrill]

Don't I have to thaw it to do that?

[scottranda]

Partially frozen you can work your way in there.

[Huskee]

Do you have a digital thermometer for your fridge? I know my brand new (in 2019) fridge is way off from its control panel vs the actual temp. You might just be trying to thaw at 33 or 34 degrees.

[scottranda]

Agree. 12 days for that size bird is too long. Find out the actual temp.

[USMCCrashCrew89]

This might be completely unsafe, so someone correct me if I’m wrong here, but I have had good luck finishing the defrost in the brining solution for 24 hours and then resting it on a wire rack on top of a sheet pan to air dry it.

[scottranda]

Totally safe if the brine is 33-40 degrees. Lower would freeze and higher would be unsafe. Wire rack after— dries out the bird which is good for crispy skin. All under 40 degrees though.

[Jfrosty27]

I went to the fridge earlier today to unpack our 13lb bird for dry brining. After 7 full days in the fridge it was still partially frozen. I unpacked it, removed the giblets from the cavity, and found big chunks of ice. After sitting in there since about noon that way it is now nearly thawed. I need to check the temp of my fridge as described above!

[Michael_in_TX]

I wonder if I'll find the same with my 14lb turkey. (I did the can-I-refreeze-my-turkey thread.)

[Jfrosty27]

Well I went to the fridge to get working on my turkey. Still partially frozen!! I have it in a sink full of water now. Grrrr!!!! 😡 I guess dinner will be a little later than originally planned. Fridge is definitely too cold.

[Meathead]

Yes. That should be MORE than enough time. You CAN cook a partially or fully frozen bird. Just keep the temp down.

[JCGrill]

The thing is, this is not an unusual problem. I have the same issue with chicken wings, roasts, etc.

[rickgregory]

Yeah, I'd get a refrigerator thermometer and see what the temp is on that shelf. Also, the freezer temp can really make a difference.

If the food starts at 0F and the shelf temp is 34 that's only 2F above freezing and you have (in this case) a very large hunk of matter at 0F.. The meat has to gain 33+ degrees AND as the outside hits 34, the layers below the outside skin are just then exposed to above freezing temps and it has no airflow because it's by definition, inside.

[Michael_in_TX]

This is such an important point. And we often don't think about it fully. I know I've always considered my freezer as freezing and somewhat thought it just around 30-31 F. But, no, it's at 0 F. Assuming that the amount of heat energy needed to raise the turkey one degree are equal, our birds need *32 units of that* to even *begin* to defrost.