You wake up Thanksgiving morning and realize you forgot to thaw the turkey. Don’t panic.
The goal is to get the rock-hard bird above 32 degrees quickly, without it exceeding 40 degrees, above which food-borne bacteria can spread and leave a piquant feeling in your intestinal tract.
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Here's what to do with the leftovers.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends three ways to thaw a turkey. You’ve missed the classic — letting it sit in the refrigerator for days (four to five for a 16- to 20-pound bird).
It suggests two others:
• Cold water — Put the water in a leak-proof plastic bag and submerge it in cold tap water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Expect it to take about 30 minutes per pound.
But if you do the math, that’s eight to 10 hours for a bird. That’s still a long time and a night without sleep.
• The microwave — Follow the microwave manufacturer’s instructions, but cook the bird immediately after thawing because some parts may exceed 40 degrees when you defrost it this way.
Alton Brown, in his television show “Good Eats,” offers another, faster, method:
• Running water — Put the bird in a bag, like the USDA recommends, but place the bird in a bucket, and the bucket under running water, such as the tap in the bathtub or under the shower. It doesn’t need to be a gushing torrent of water, just enough to circulate the water around the turkey. The convection of the circulating water will actually transfer energy faster than still water. The bird should be thawed in a couple of hours.
Now, imagine that you wake up on Thanksgiving morning and you realize you forgot to make the pies — all the pies, including the special pickle and peanut butter pie that Uncle Morty likes but still didn’t win in the annual pie contest.
That’s when you can panic.
— Todd R. McAdam
