Defrosting turkey

cheeswright

if you think about it the meat on the outside of the bird is sat on ice ( the inside of the bird) and will be quite a low temp for a long time - depending of course on the air temperature - so in winter in an unheated room it should not reach the dreaded 7 degrees easily

If you end up with an un defrosted bird lump of meat (and like mine your microwave thinks the defrost setting means incinerate in parts whilst leaving other parts frozen) you can chuck it in a large pan / bowl / bucket with cold tap water -you dont even have to unwrap it ) our water is usually considerably below outdoor temperature..often a similar temperature to the fridge - or even lower in winter - the temperature will even out much faster between the water and the meat than the air and the meat - so safely defrosting your meat quite quickly...well an hour or so rather than a day or so...
although if its really cold
and you leave it in a garage ...you could theoretically end up with a duck popsicle....:rotfl:Mmmmmm crunchy

bluebag

37 years defrosting on the counter top without any issues. Put it in the fridge once defrosted if I am not going to cook it straight away.
No heating on overnight.

I think these 'advice' folk, never enter a kitchen. Too much theory and insufficient practice.

Most of us haven't got 4 days to plan ahead to defrost a flippin chicken!

MrsChristmas

I'm the same bluebag. If we're having a roast I just get the meat out the evening before & let it defrost on a plate, on the kitchen worktop. Never had a problem either. Sausages & mince I get out in the morning, sometimes not always defrosted by tea time but I start cooking with them anyway. Again, no problems

bluebag

MrsChristmas wrote: »

I'm the same bluebag. If we're having a roast I just get the meat out the evening before & let it defrost on a plate, on the kitchen worktop. Never had a problem either. Sausages & mince I get out in the morning, sometimes not always defrosted by tea time but I start cooking with them anyway. Again, no problems

I know, I really don't know where these experts get their ideas from, too much science not enough getting on with it.

It's the same with all the sell by date thing and antiseptic the whole world. Honestly, common sense has left the building with these 'experts'.

One look at grey meat or a whiff of offness and it's in the bin for me. But I have seen elephant grey meat on sale within it's sell by date.

Marmaduke123

I do the overnight in the microwave too (cat), and have never had a problem.

Small items I would leave out on the worktop for a few hours, or even on the stainless steel draining board. Things defrost more quickly if they are on a metal surface.

I can't see how there could be a problem really. I always defrost in the wrappings things were frozen in. Obviously you wouldn't leave items hanging around at room temperature once they had defrosted.

gayleygoo

I defrost on the counter or in the cleaned sink. When I did my food hygiene course I was told that pathogenic bacteria (the "baddies") like reasonably warm temperatures to multiply quickly. If I remember correctly it was somewhere around 16-18 degrees Celsius. As long as the meat is covered and you're keeping an eye on it and don't leave it sitting out once it is defrosted, I'd use it. If the middle is still frozen then even the outside might not yet be warm enough for the bacteria to thrive. (Although bacteria do still multiply in cool conditions such as the fridge, just not nearly as fast).

Also, if my food hygiene teacher was right, pathogenic bacteria do not produce the bad smells and other things that tell us a food is "off". They are a result of fairly harmless spoilage bacteria. However, if the spoilage bacteria have grown enough to be noticed, the undetectable pathogenic ones are probably there in large numbers too.

So, if it smells or looks weird then it gets thrown out, otherwise I just cook the hell out of it and enjoy

zippychick

I know you asked about Duck, but I've merged this with our existing thread on defrosting turkey (as it's the biggest bird you will get )

Good luck
Zip