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Christmas

Turkey, bad advice!

(33 Posts)
Curlywhirly Wed 24-Dec-25 13:52:22

I think leaving the turkey in a cold garage or porch is probably fine (done it myself years ago) but, admit I'm reluctant to do it now and keep it in my fridge until 1 hour before cooking.

Curlywhirly Wed 24-Dec-25 13:46:45

Sorry to highjack post on turkey storage!

Curlywhirly Wed 24-Dec-25 13:45:46

My boneless turkey breast crown has an eleastic 'stocking' on (never cooked one before, only cooked regular turkeys/crowns). I presume I should leave the stocking on when cooking it (or the whole joint could unravel?). Means I can't place the butter under the skin, so have just dotted it on top of the skin, followed by the streaky bacon. I was thinking of taking the stocking off 30 mins before end of cooking time, to brown the skin. Has anyone any advice?

HelterSkelter1 Wed 24-Dec-25 13:25:34

I suppose it would mean the internal temp of the turkey would not be still cold and take longer to cook than the outer meat.
It could go in the boot of the car or in the garage as it's pretty cold now at night time.
Our cat wrestled a chicken to the floor which I left out for an hour to come to "room temp". It wasn't too cold for him and, although raw, he ate a leg. I had to serve it resting on one side.

welbeck Wed 24-Dec-25 13:19:41

But again the vast majority of people do not have a utility room or an outhouse.
They would understand room temperature to be a comfortable indoor kitchen temperature in winter.
It is unlikely that people would stash it in the living room or a bedroom.
The instructions do not mention lack of fridge space. They seem to suggest it would cook better if stored in room temperature.
I know nothing about cooking but this sounds concerning to me too
on food safety grounds.

Pantglas2 Wed 24-Dec-25 12:37:54

Most fridges run at between 3-5degrees and if you have a cold unheated utility, outhouse etc the temperature overnight is predicted to be around 4 degrees so the turkey would be fine there if you’re struggling for room in the fridge.

Mine will sit in the cold conservatory and brought into the kitchen an hour before it’s procession into th’oven!

nanna8 Wed 24-Dec-25 12:35:25

I would never leave uncooked chicken or turkey out for more than 30 minutes. If it is frozen I leave it in the ordinary part of the fridge to defrost. Same applies to fish.

Sago Wed 24-Dec-25 12:30:00

I just picked up my turkey from the butcher, it came with a leaflet from the farm that reared the bird.

It advised removing the turkey from the fridge the night before cooking to come to room temperature!

This is appalling, such advice could cause serious illness.

I always remove it from the fridge an hour or so before.

Am I over cautious?

Do other people remove the bird from the fridge the night before?