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If you want to thaw your turkey in the refrigerator, you need to start days before cooking . Keep the turkey in its original wrapping and put it in a pan to catch the moisture. Allow 24 hours of thawing time for every 5 pounds of turkey. A 15-pound turkey would require three days of thawing time, for example.
If you need to thaw your turkey faster, use the cold water method. Immerse your packaged turkey (make sure there are no tears in the packaging) in ice-cold water (consider a large bucket in the bath tub). You need to change the water every 30 minutes to keep it cold and allow about 30 minutes of thawing time per pound of turkey. A 15-pound turkey would require 7 ½ hours of cold-water thawing.
However, there is one more simple solution – cook the entire turkey from the frozen state. The FDA Food Code allows this, and turkey hotlines suggest it. Curious? Here's how it's done.
Start 5 to 5 1/2 hours before you want to serve the cooked turkey. Set the oven temperature at 325ºF. Remove the wrapping from the turkey and put the turkey on a rack on a pan that has been covered with foil to make cleaning easy. You can also cook the turkey in a covered roasting pan if you have one.
Put the turkey in the oven. Do not worry about the bag with the heart, liver, etc. in the neck cavity of the turkey. They can be removed during cooking, after the turkey thaws.
Cooking the turkey on a rack in a shallow pan assures even cooking. Cooking in a pan with sides shields the bottom of the turkey from heat, and the cooking on the bottom will be non-uniform.
After about 3 1/2 hours, the legs and thighs will be around 150 to 160ºF, and the breast, about 40 to 50ºF. The bag of heart, liver, etc. and the neck can be removed at this time.
At 4 1/2 to 5 hours, the turkey is nicely cooked. Check the temperature. The leg and thigh should be tender and at a temperature of 175 to 185ºF, while the breast will be moist at a temperature of 160 to 170ºF. The pop-up timer (if there is one) should have popped. Cooking turkeys to these temperatures is adequate to assure the reduction of Salmonella and other bacteria to a safe level.
Cooking turkey from the frozen state produces an excellent, juicy, tender, and safe product. There is no need to remember to thaw the turkey four days ahead of time, and cooking a frozen turkey minimizes risk of contamination from juices from the raw bird.
To assure a quality and safe turkey, monitor the final temperature with a tip-sensitive digital thermometer, and always wash your hands before touching and handling the cooked turkey.
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One of the best meat bargains is a frozen turkey. And this time of year is when you can find some outstanding sales. The dilemma comes, however, when you want to turn that frozen turkey into a special dinner. How do you thaw and prepare it?
