# Quick Turkey **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 23, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-turkey/220730 "2003-12-23T22:11:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-turkey/220730/1 "2003-12-23T22:11:44Z")
Alright, I have guests coming over tonight for a pre-Christmas dinner type thing and I have a frozen (but already cooked) turkey. Does anyone know of an extremely, dare I say superheroish, way to thaw this turkey?? The instructions say “thaw for two days”. Needless to say my guests will be hungry if I take it’s advise… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-turkey/220730/2 "2003-12-23T23:02:10Z")
Blimey. You need to be really careful; the danger is that if you allow it to thaw at too high a temeprature, the outer portions will become suitably warm for the runaway reproduction of pathogenic bacteria before the inner portions are thawed - in the worst case, you could end up causing your guests to suffer food poisoning. I’ve heard of people thawing it in a bathtub of cool water (water is a better heatsink than air, so it should thaw quicker even at an equally low temperature, but I’m not going to recommend this method because I don’t know enough about it (including whether it is at all safe). ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-turkey/220730/3 "2003-12-23T23:19:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\* > I’ve heard of people thawing it in a bathtub of cool water (water is a better heatsink than air, so it should thaw quicker even at an equally low temperature, but I’m not going to recommend this method because I don’t know enough about it (including whether it is at all safe). \*\* I’ve thawed whole turkeys in cool water, but my concern is that you said yours is already cooked, so I’m not sure how well it will work. First, I’d take it out of all wrappings, unless you are sure there is a completely sealed plastic cover to it. If you’re not sure, go find some kind of plastic bag (maybe an oven bag?) that it will fit into. Put the unwrapped turkey in the bag, put in the sink (or bathtub IF you think that’s clean enough). Run cold water in the the sink to cover the turkey. Replace the water every half hour - I’d say 2-3 hours and it _should_ be thawed, but no guarantees. Out of curiosity about my estimated times, I went to the [butterball.com](http://butterball.com) web site and found this (and that makes me think that I’m WAY understimating the time needed): > [@](#): > > Cold Water Thawing: > Place turkey in unopened wrapper, breast down and cover completely with cold tap water. > Change water every 30 minutes to keep surface of turkey cold. > Estimate minimum thawing time to be 30 minutes per pound for a whole turkey. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-turkey/220730/4 "2003-12-23T23:30:45Z")
Erk! - I overlooked the fact that it is already cooked. And ‘heatsink’ isn’t quite the right word. Even though it is cooked, the risk of food poisoning is still present if it (or parts of it) are allowed to remain too warm for too long. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-turkey/220730/5 "2003-12-24T00:38:15Z")
You might be able to nuke your bird: > [@](#): > > The third method of thawing is in the microwave. You should follow the manufacturer’s instructions for thawing turkey in the microwave. Always cook the turkey immediately after thawing in the microwave, as some parts of the turkey may have reached temperatures where harmful bacteria can grow. [Cobb County Extension Service](http://www.cobbcounty.org/communications/direction_cobb/nov_02/extension.htm) Check the manual for your microwave. ---
**Author:** ![zabrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/dbc845/32.png) [@zabrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zabrain)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-turkey/220730/6 "2003-12-24T02:18:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*… > And ‘heatsink’ isn’t quite the right word. > … \*\* maybe “conductor”?