My husband saw fresh turkeys in the market yesterday and asked me>>>

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luisa_calif

Well-known member
if people bought fresh turkeys this early and questioned why. He also asked if these were the same (batch of) turkeys we will be getting on Wed. I thought they would keep and also some people buy ahead to brine or to get a jump on avoiding crowds. I also thought the markets can't handle the storage of everyone buying at the last day.

Any thoughts?

 
Usually they take home early for the convenience and to avoid crowds. more..

If the bird is kept in its original plastic wrapper and in the refrigerator, it will keep up to twenty days. Don't unwrap to thaw, and don't "wash" or rinse the bird, either---that just spreads bacteria!

 
"Don't wash or rinse the bird" This will save me 3 rolls of paper towels! Thanks, Mark

I won't rinse before brining but I do rinse to remove some of the salt from the brine.

 
The butcher told my sister that the fresh birds are kept really cold, at 33 degrees or something,

they have a special term for them being that cold. He said that if you set your fridge a little colder, you could keep one of these icy but fresh birds in your fridge for 2 weeks before Thanksgiving.

We are picking up our hen on Monday. She's getting brined, then herb butter under the skin, then roasted.

Has anyone noticed that the birds don't take as long to roast as they used to? For the past few years it's cooked faster and faster and it's always a tad alarming - "you mean it's done already?? But we haven't done.....(xyz) yet!!!"

 
You know, I think I noticed the same thing. Used to have to get up at the crack of dawn to get the>>

bird in the oven.

 
Is it just turkeys that will keep so long in the fridge??

When you buy fresh chickens, you're supposed to use it within a couple of days. How come a turkey will last 2 to 3 weeks, I wonder?

 
oh, thanks for the temp heads -up. I have my fresh turkey (Foster Farms)

purchased fresh at Costco yesterday, in my garage fridge. I wasn't sure of the temp so I put a thermomter in there this AM to check. $0.89/lb

 
In California turkeys are allowed to be cooled to 28

I call a turkey at 28º frozen. Believe me, a turkey at 29º is a frozen turkey; it cannot be used immediately when you get home, you have to defrost it; this annoys me to no end!

If your turkey is icy at 33ºF, it was not held there for long--it was probably held lower and then stored at the 33º temp.

I think turkeys can be held so long because they are "chilled" lower than the freezing temp of water and since they are so large, they take a long time to defrost if held at 33º.

 
The butcher told my sis that because they are so cold they keep longer. And most fridges keep

Frozen foods frozen in the coldest spot if you lower the overall temp.

My fridge freezes everything on the top shelf. Once I had a frozen chicken in there, 4 days later it was still a brick. I ended up putting it in a cold water bath to thaw. But I agree that you should cook meats within 1-2 days of purchase. I'm really paranoid about food safety.

 
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