Thawing a Giant Turky

I hope that you have this turkey in the fridge defrosting now. If not, get it in there now! If you have it in the fridge and it is still frozen tomorrow, you can thaw it by putting it in the sink and soak it in cold water. I had to do this last year and I had my bird out in the fridge defrosting for days!

I thaw my turkeys in the bathtub. I fill the tub up with cold water, place the turkey in and shimmy the drain so it slowly releases the water, and then I turn the shower on (cold) and let it fall over the turkey for around 4 hours. This usually thaws it enough (and I also feed a big family with 20+ lb turkeys)for step 2. You have to get that sucker outta the package and pry out those innards. The gizzards and stuff stay frozen and slow down thaw time. Once you get those bad boys out (vice grips and tea towels work), you can put the turkey in a sink of cold water, regularly rotating the big bird. Since I brine my turkeys overnight in a mixture of vegetable broth, salt, brown sugar, and herbs, It's ok if the turkey is still a little frozen. But it's usually 90% thawed after those 2 methods.

I would be going out to that deep freeze and pulling the turkey out now. A turkey that big is going to need a few days to thaw in the fridge. The one my brother bought for thanksgiving is only 13 pounds. You are having a huge turkey.

Yes, that is a really big bird. I would move it to the fridge. I have a 21 pound turkey and I took mine out of the freezer today and have put it in the fridge. There are speed methods for defrosting, but with that big of a bird you don't want to take any chances. The bigger the bird the longer it will take.

Mine has been in frig. for three day's now and is still frozen. Mine is a 20 pounder. I'm hoping it is ready on thursday. I really don't care as my family is not coming over. Thank goodness. My Mom and I had thankgiving last weekend as she has plans and lives 152 miles away. So I went up there and we had it early. And this was the cool part we had turkey and yams. plain. No sugar. Got to love my Mom. I really don't care for pie. She said what for dessert I said how about more turkey. or a hot cup of coffee. We laughed and stayed in our pajamma's all day. Your friend onlydia

The water method is basically putting the bird in hot water but i don't like that idea at all since the bird ends up thawed out faster all right but discolored due to being partially boiled by the hot water. I would suggest taking it out the evening before and keeping it out in water and change the water every once in a while some say every 30 minutes. If it is still not all thawed out put it in your fridge just in case so it wont go bad from being on the counter all night. In the morning take it out. By the time you are ready to cook it the turkey should be thawed out just fine. If you want some real tips here is a good link i found for you ;) http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC3560.htm Hope that is of use for you =)

I was looking at the usda turkey site this saturday and found that to thaw a turkey in the fridge it takes 24 per 4 to 5 lbs. They also suggested that you could thaw the turkey in your pickic cool if you cover the bird with cold water and change it often. So you better get your bird in the fridge or the cooler. I put my 12 pounder in the fridge last night. It should be thawed tomarrow night. We are having it fried and need to inject the flavoring tomarrow night. Happy Thanksgiving.

Wow! That's a huge turkey! Even with the big family, what time did you want us all over? LOL I would put it in the refrigerator now to have it done in time. When I used to live up north, I used to thaw mine in a cooler outside. The daytime temps were about 35-40 during the day, so it was perfect. A 12 Lb one would take about 2 days to thaw.

Well. Im canadian so my thanksgivings already passed. and this year i had a 27 pounder. It took about 5 hours :p