How long do I need to let my turkeys rest in the fridge after saughter and before freezing?

[up home]

How long do I need to let my turkeys rest in the fridge after saughter and before freezing? They are about 17 weeks old and between 20 and 30 lbs.

 

[jbirds2012]

3 or 4 days make up some salt water ( brine ) to soak them in, then you can freeze them or cook them up. good luck to ya

 

[Lagerdogger]

I like to let things sit for about 2 days. My wife gets them out of there after about 1 day. I wouldn't brine until just before cooking. However, we almost always eat our birds fresh. I don't think I've had a frozen turkey for four years.

 

[up home]

Thanks, thats about what we did, having one tomorrow for Canadian Thanksgiving. Can't wait.

 

[Arielle]

Enjoy your HOliday!!!

I don't brine--I find turkey salty enough as it is when I make the pan drippings into gravy. I don't need to add salt to the drippings usually.

 

[Celie]

I brine a turkey to make sure it is juicy and not dry, it doesn't make the bird too salty, because I wash it off well before cooking. The brine works through osmosis, but it will absorb the seasoning, funny how that works!

 

[zekii]

Opps... we always butcher and freeze the same day, never had any problem with the
meat, but I guess next time we will wait 2 or 3 days before freezing.

 

[up home]

No we didn't brine the turkey, and it was great. We had a lovely feast and fed about 20 people. Thanks for the replies.

 

[BarneyChick97]

So it sounds like it really doesn't matter if you brine or not? Or freeze right away or not?? Something new I might try too. The last turkey's we had, we froze right away. We also had one fresh (did 4 at the same time). We even waited almost a year to eat the last frozen one, and it was STILL good!! (we put them in 4 bags each) We are going to process one big girl today (cause she hurt her leg--too heavy), and we've been debating to do the brine before. It all sounds very interesting, but maybe now I'll wait and let her sit in the fridge for a few days before I freeze her to decide, to brine, or not to brine??