Turkey Paranoia!

[Brian B.]

All,

I have an 8 lb turkey breast that I pulled out of the fridge last night to put in a brine around midnight EST. The breast still had some ice on it which I rinsed off and I put it with ice and the brine in an insulated 5 gal. cooler overnight.

Apparently I didn't put enough ice in it, because when I just checked it the temp inside was 49 F. I put more ice in and closed the top, but I am concerned that the bird might be bad.

Any opinions or help? I need to know if this is safe to smoke and eat.

Thanks

 

[LarryR]

Based on the feedback I got on this thread I think you'll be OK - TEENAGERS SUCK The info that's important to you is on the second page of the post. There's also this infomative thread Shawn put together The Kruger Safety Compliation v0.1

 

[Brian B.]

So do I need to cook it right away or am I good to wait a little bit provided I cool it down? I have re-iced and closed the jug and will shortly be moving it to the refrigerator, but I wasn't planning to cook it for another 3 or 4 hours.

Thanks in advance, the wife is a little bit upset about this one.

 

[Brian B.]

Hmmm...I'm feeling better after reading a lot of Kevin's posts. I'm guessing that the bird could have been about the 40 degree mark for about 6 hours or so.

If I'm reading his notes right, unless the bird smells funny (spoilage but not pathogen) the cooking process would fix anything that has potentially grown on the outside of the bird.

Does this sound right? Does the salt in the brine have any effect on this?

 

[K Kruger]

Late here but the answer is yes to both questions.

 

[Brian B.]

Thanks for the help everyone. The turkey turned out great other than the fact that I tried using the standard method of lighting for the first time and couldn't seem to keep my fire hot.

I lit one full chimney of coals and then added the second chim and let it all get hot per the instructions. I would say I was running low on fuel in 2 1/2 hours.