Mahoosive frozen turkey to defrost - help!!!

[Jungfraujoch]

About 9.3kg.

I'm worried about food poisoning everyone if I don't do it right!! According to the wrapper it reckons 106 hours (!) in the fridge. But I'm wondering if better to thaw quicker just in the garage and then pop into fridge?

What do you oh wise turkey cooks suggest?

I wouldn't, personally, as the temperature in the garage might be a bit too high to stop bacteria springing into life, unless the weather gets colder and the garage is staying below about 5 degrees.

But then I don't trust any meat or poultry not to poison us, so I am a rabid rule-follower....

Hopefully someone with some actual food hygiene knowledge will be along in a minute

If you have a way to check garage temp and its below 6 it will be fine. Actually 8 is the legal requirement for fridge temps in a prof kitchen but I would say 6 to be on the safe side.

I would defrost it in the garage because my garage is often colder than my fridge. I often use it as an overflow fridge when I have visitors. I now have a second fridge in the garage, could you hire/buy a small one for the holidays? That way your dilemma is solved & you would make use of the fridge over xmas & special occasions.

Confusing isn't it?!

So OK to leave in fridge defrosting for nearly 5 days? That's the bit that worries me - I wouldn't leave a chicken so long.

I do have a small fridge I can use so that's not a problem! Thanks for your answers!

And if you do decide to cook it before it has thawed throughout, make sure there is not a plastic bag of whatsits stored in its cavity.

No more turkey attempts for me. Thank goodness we have different traditions in Norway. Good luck.

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Healthychristmas/Pages/cooking-turkey.aspx - nhs website gives timings for defrosting in a fridge, in a cool room or at room temperature. The important thing is to make sure it is fully defrosted before cooking it. Defrosting in the garage sounds fine to me.

We defrost or turkey in the spare room.

It's always the same size as yours, or bigger, and won't fit in the fridge with everything else.

It takes 2.5 - 3 days, and nobody has died yet.