AIBU to remind you to Defrost your turkey?

[SpiderinaWingMirror]

It will take longer than you think.Turkey crown from Cook says minimum 48 hrs in a fridge. Today is the day to check your times!

Buying mine fresh tomorrow

I always can taste when meat has been frozen and then defrosted so I always buy fresh on the 23rd

Do the express method, bucket in the utility room!

@chocolateorangeinhaler

Oh for goodness sake. This is Mumsnet surely everyone plucks and draws their own freshly slaughtered turkey on Christmas morning before cooking. ??

🤣🤣

I never buy a frozen turkey because I am too useless and lazy for this defrosting it in good time malarkey.

I guarantee that I’d never remember to do it in time.

In this case, I suspect getting a fresh one (from the supermarket) is the less effort option. And possibly the one preferred by people who buy trays of ready prepped veg etc. You can buy a ready dressed and stuffed crown, for example.

Hard to try to claim moral superiority in the basis of your labour and coking expertise when you’ve gone for the least effort option. Even if superficially it sounds fancier than a frozen turkey. 😆

Presumably the people slaughtering and plucking their hand raised turkeys are busy sorting out the process of bringing them anyway. Or something else that involves more steps than just ‘stick in oven for X time’.

Thank goodness for MN I've just run down and taken it out the freezer

And if yo have a cat don't let it access the room the turkey is defrosting in.

We had a cool washroom when I was child, it was ideal to defrost the turkey, but the cat found it.

That year the turkey came tot he table already sliced.

I think a frozen turkey would actually cool the fridge hence taking longer to defrost. I think a metal baking dish made it worse last year too.

Also remember to remove the giblets ASAP to reduce thaw time.

Thank you

I bought a frozen turkey yesterday and there aren't any defrosting times on it. It just says defrost before cooking". Great, cheers. 🙄

Any idea how long a 5kg full turkey would take to defrost?

@AlbertBridge

I bought a frozen turkey yesterday and there aren't any defrosting times on it. It just says defrost before cooking". Great, cheers. 🙄

Any idea how long a 5kg full turkey would take to defrost?

About 3 days according to this! www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-to-defrost-a-turkey

Thank you ! I was just wondering how long to defrost it for

I have a turkey crown and Google told me that it would defrost in the fridge in 19 hours so I took it out yesterday morning and put it in the fridge. It's still frozen solid so it's on the side now. I need to dry brine it!

ok - notes duly taken - thank you @SpiderinaWingMirror

[off to garage to remove Turkey Crown from freezer]

I think leaving it in its wrapping was where I went wrong before, thinking about it.

I still remember the year my mum forgot and I came into the kitchen in the morning to see the turkey sitting in a sink of hot water! No we didn’t die of food poisoning. Yes my mum is normally extremely conscious of food hygiene/safety and was practically crying with the stress of trying to defrost the thing whilst assuming she would definitely poison us if she got it defrosted.

Always buy fresh tomorrow so don't have that problem of remembering to defrost it thankfully.

Thank you, was going to leave mine till tomorrow but it's out now. Hopefully it'll defrost in time!

Thank you - this is a thread I have started in past years, due to experience ❄️!

Mine is now in the fridge, it says 24-48 hours but no way is that long enough.

thank you for this

if doing the Nigella (or any other) brining method, can you brine and defrost at the same time? ie take frozen turkey out of freezer and put it straight into the brine for the two days.

am thinking of keeping the brining bucket in the car as it's now cold enough out there and I don't like the idea of the garden as we have lots of foxes.

I've found my answer, better get the bird out of the freezer now! Posting here in case anyone else is interested:

www.nigella.com/ask/brining-a-frozen-turkey

I would also say though that while it's obviously good to be cautious and careful, in normal non-Christmas times I happily let a joint of meat defrost in a dish on the kitchen worktop (in packaging) so if anyone finds they need to do that, I don't think there's any need for panic.

I was planning to get mine out tomorrow morning (I have the cook one) but decided to get it done now! Thanks MN

I may well go "fresh" again next year to avoid the whole hassle.Cant say I can taste the difference but it may be that my taste buds are shot from years of chain drinking tea!

@oftenbaffled

Buying mine fresh tomorrow

I always can taste when meat has been frozen and then defrosted so I always buy fresh on the 23rd

I could have bought fresh but would cost £££.

Thank you for the timely reminder @SpiderinaWingMirror I want to brine mine this year, the first time so hopefully it will be as unctuous as Nigella says it will be. It's only a small one but need to brine Friday, so it needed to come out today. I thought it was meant to be tomorrow