Thawing

Since we can’t offer year round fresh turkeys, often you’ll be buying a whole, frozen bird. Since we cooperate with our Oregon growing season, our Turkeys are raised during the warm weather and processed before the cold rain sets in. This means most of our birds are frozen. Read more about Fresh vs Frozen here.

THAWING METHODS

The question we get asked a lot is how much time to allow for defrosting. If you pick up your bird the weekend before Thanksgiving and plan to use it the following Thursday, then we recommend starting to defrost when you get your bird home, especially if you plan to brine your bird ahead of time.

The USDA has three recommended “safe methods”:  http://www.fsis.usda.gov/

Refrigerator Thawing:  Place your frozen bird, still in the bag, on a tray or shallow pan to prevent juices from dripping on other foods. Place in the refrigerator and allow approximately 24 hours for each 4 to 5 pounds of bird below 40*.

• 4 to 12 pounds — 1 to 3 days
• 12 to 16 pounds — 3 to 4 days
• 16 to 20 pounds — 4 to 5 days
• 20 to 24 pounds —5 to 6 days

A thawed turkey can remain in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days before cooking. Foods thawed in the refrigerator can be refrozen without cooking but there may be some loss of quality.

Cold Water Thawing:

• 4 to 12 pounds — 2 to 6 hours
• 12 to 16 pounds — 6 to 8 hours
• 16 to 20 pounds — 8 to 10 hours
• 20 to 24 pounds — 10 to 12 hours

Place your whole turkey in a container in the sink. Run cold water into the cavity of the bird. A turkey thawed by the cold water method should be cooked immediately. After cooking, meat from the turkey can be refrozen.

Microwave Thawing: Not recommended!

We recommend the first method of refrigerator thawing. If you do not have space in your fridge, you can place the bird in an ice chest in a cool garage area. Just be sure to monitor the turkey and refrigerate or cook immediately.

Emergency Thawing:

Sometimes we get calls from folks on the morning they plan to cook their turkey after they have pulled it out of the refrigerator only to find that it is not yet fully thawed. If this is the case, use the cold water thawing method with slightly warmer water to move the process along quickly. This should only be used in an emergency and immediately prior to cooking.

Cook your turkey within 3 days of thawing out for optimal flavor.