[Sca-cooks] Turkey Defrosting?

[Bill Fisher]

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 16:24:29 -0500, Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius
<adamantius.magister at verizon.net> wrote:
> What Phlip said. Basically, you want to do two things. You want to
> warm the bird enough to thaw it without getting any part of it, for
> any prolonged period of time, above 40-45 degrees F. The trouble with
> warm water is that salmonella will cheerfully, and in fact,
> reverently, be fruitful and multiply (Hallelujah!) under the skin and
> in other outer, warmer portions of the bird, while others are still
> frozen. And because parts are still frozen, and you're going to,
> presumably, wait until it's thawed, salmonella will essentially be
> watching, but not waiting on you, if you get what I mean.

I have used an ice chest with brining solution in it already.  It thaws
fairly quickly, but you need to keep an eye on the temp to make sure
the water stays below 40.  The hard part is keeping the bird submerged
in the brine, and you should change it out every now and then.  I use
a brick in a ziploc baggie to keep the bird drowned. (briining liquid
is water, salt, spices - it varies)

I don't always brine the bird, when I don't, I put my ice chest in the shower
and put the bird in it and set the waters in motion.

> Probably your best bet is to use cold water from the tap in a sink
> that is nearly full, or whose water level covers the bird, but drains
> as fast as it fills. This may take some doing, and you may need to
> experiment with weird things like using a kitchen towel as a drain
> plug, but ideally, you'll get a combination that doesn't flood the
> place, and doesn't have water which becomes excessively chilled  by
> the frozen bird, and which has some currents of both a physical and
> convective, if that's the word, nature.

You need a deep sink for that one.   You could also use a pot the
turkey fits into
and then if your sink has a sprayer, you can use a rubber band to hold
that open and
put it in the pot and let it overflow into your sink.  Just make sure
the water is cold.

> Adamantius, dealing with no frozen boids, but prepping Manilla clams
> and shrimp for later this evening

Cadoc
Whose most complex cooking task today is making a turkey sandwich

-- 

"The 'Net is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it" -
                                    - William Gibson