Bloody frozen turkey

[Cudz]

I bought a frozen turkey crown (serves 8-10 people) from Iceland and put it in the fridge on Tuesday night to begin defrosting and it's still pretty solid this morning. I want to cook it early tomorrow morning (6am ish) so what can I do to get it totally defrosted before 6am tomorrow? I'm out for most of today so don't have the option to use cold water and keep changing it. Can they be cooked from part frozen? What if I leave it out in the kitchen all day with no heating on? The packaging on the box says defrost for 48 hours in the fridge so I can't understand why it isn't defrosted! Help!

Never understood why people try to defrost in a fridge 🤷🏼‍♀️
Take it out and put it in the side.

Put it in cold water. It’s faster than leaving it on the worktop. And much faster than trying to defrost over several days in a fridge.

From a food safety point of view, faster thawing is probably best. Thaw it quickly then store in the fridge til you’re going to cook it.

This is what has always bothered me, you're usually only supposed to keep thawed poultry for a day (I think?) if you're keeping in the fridge for days surely some this are hanging around for a whirl. I just try to get it in the fridge when it still feels very cold (but not frozen).

Just leave it out on the side while you're out! It will be fine. I've just got our crown out of the freezer. It'll stay out (likely sat in microwave because cats) all day until it's defrosted then back in fridge overnight.
I promise you it will be fine. 1 hour out of the fridge will do nothing!

@TheYummyPatler sorry my question was genuine not sniping, I always feel a bit guilty about room temp thawing so was wondering if water was another recommended way more so than on the side.

Only thing I might defrost in the fridge is fish, sausages and bacon! Anything denser than that takes forever.

It's a myth that things defrost well in the fridge. Mine freezes fresh stuff if I'm not careful. Just leave it out on the side. It will most likely be thawed by tonight and then you can put it back in the fridge overnight again.

I defrosted mine very quickly once - by mistake. I left it on a stainless steel draining area above a dishwasher which ran overnight. It was pretty warm next morning!

Stick it in a bowl of room temperature water. Leave on the side for max 2 hours and then back in the fridge

I think.i would another one you are out just to.be on the safe side. There might be some fresh ones reduced this afternoon. Good luck. The guide re defrosting are never right😫

I used to work for a large supermarket.

The amount of stinking turkeys we’d get back the day after Boxing Day and people crying about how we had ruined their Christmas, all because they had defrosted it in the garage or out on the worktop.

I remember reading a thread on here one year about someone defrosting it in the boot of their car then complaining that it smelt off! All the posters clamouring to tell them to “demand compensation for ruining your Christmas”🙄

same here, turkey panic at 7:30 this morning, it says 39 hours ARRRG!!!!! That just doesn’t seem reasonable. So I have stuck it in a bucket of water in the counter as above, fingers crossed for all of us.

I always defrost meat overnight on the kitchen side unless it's the height of summer!

Mine's in the garage, I'm thinking I need to go and check. It's probably colder in our garage than the fridge at the moment.

Good luck OP.

I reckon your safest option is to defrost (wrapped!) it in a sink full of cold water, even if you can’t change the water while you’re out. Change the water once you’re home. It’ll defrost more effectively in water than if you leave it out.

You’re going to be cooking the turkey as soon as it’s defrosted, it’s not as though it’ll then be sitting around for days.

The risks of eating turkey which isn’t fully cooked are higher.

I've cooked an Iceland turkey crown from frozen for last three years and it's been fine, never even occurred to me to try to defrost it first

If it's the Iceland 2.2kg turkey crown check the packaging as it can be safely cooked from frozen

Mcgregor, please could you talk us through cooking it from frozen as it works for you eg temp, cover/uncover? sorry to be dim but it would be really helpful to have tried and tested method just in case?

I am definitely not an expert cook by any stretch 🙈 I just follow the instructions on the box (copied them below for the one with bacon which I've bought this year). I use a meat thermometer to be on the safe side and usually allow more time than I need just in case (so mine is typically stood for maybe an hour before carving rather than ten minutes 😬) but the timing is usually pretty accurate.

Fan 180°C Cook time: - 2 hr. 20 min.
Remove outer packaging and film lid.
Cover loosely with foil.
Place in a roasting tin near the middle of the oven.
1 hour 30 minutes into cooking time, remove foil, return to oven for 50 minutes.
Stand for 10 minutes before carving.

I'm only cooking for my own little family and none of us are real foodies but it's been good enough for us. Hope this helps x

our turkey said 100 hours still solid so Putting it in bucket and popping in bath with tap drizzling

Thank you!!! That’s really helpful 👍

Nothing defrosts in my fridge. I'd just leave it out on the side.

Enjoy your turkey with a side of food poisoning!

Whole idea of defrosting in the fridge is that it will still stay below the temperature at which nasty bacteria will start to grow. You leave it out above 4 degrees and once that turkey is defrosted lovely things will start to breed in it that will cause food poisoning. Once the bacteria are in there they will not be killed by colder temperatures or by cooking it, so no point defrosting it at room temp and popping it back into the fridge thinking it'll be fine after that. And often you cannot even smell it is off. Also just because some people got away with it before, doesn't mean you'll be as lucky. Guess you and your family will have to take your chances!

I read 12 hours per kilo for Turkey crowns in the bottom of a fridge that’s 4 degrees Celsius.

fingers crossed that’s right otherwise dinner could be very late tomorrow!

On the back of this thread I just checked my turkey which has been defrosting in the fridge for 36 hours...by every measure it should be completely defrosted (it's only 3.5kg!) but it's rock hard.

It will have to defrost at room temperature or it won't defrost at all!