FAQ

Granny's whole fresh and frozen unstuffed turkeys are not brined. If you are looking for a brine recipe, try this recipe for Standard Turkey Brine - Recipe Link: https://www.grannys.ca/recipe/whole-turkey-brine/

You don’t need to brine a turkey to roast it. You can get great results in a fairly hot oven, seasoning it with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

There are two ways to safely thaw poultry: The refrigerator or cold water methods.

NEVER leave poultry out at room temperature to defrost and NEVER refreeze uncooked meat.

Refrigerator Method: This method keeps the meat cold until it is completely defrosted. Leave the poultry in its packaging and place it on a tray on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator. Allow 5 hours per pound (10 hours/kg) thawing time. For example, a 10-pound (4.5-kg) frozen turkey would require 2 full days to thaw inside the refrigerator.

Cold Water Method: This is the fastest method for thawing. Put the still-packaged poultry in the sink or in a large container and cover completely with cold water. Allow for 1 hour per pound (2 hours/kg) thawing time, changing the water frequently.

Once thawed, refrigerate immediately and cook within 48 hours.

Washing poultry prior to roasting can spread harmful bacteria around your kitchen. Chicken and turkey are well rinsed in our process prior to packaging. It’s highly recommended that you don’t wash chicken or turkey prior to roasting.

Ready to cook means that once it is thawed it is ready to go into the oven. Most of our frozen turkey bags do have cooking instructions on the back or refer to the cooking instructions tool: https://grannys.ca/poultry-pointers

There is no exact proper way to carve a turkey or chicken but we recommend the following:

1. Let your roasted bird rest loosely tented with foil in a warm place for about 20 minutes before carving.
2. If you have a cutting board that just fits inside a shallow pan it will capture any excess juice while carving.
3. Carve the bird just before serving and put the meat on a platter.
4. Use a large fork or tongs to hold the meat and carve with a sharp knife using the other hand.
5. Slices can be carved from the breast on an angle following the angle of the breast bone. Another way of carving the breast meat is to remove the entire breast from the bird and then cut it into slices on the cutting board.
6. Drumsticks, wings and thighs will naturally separate at the joint and it is easiest to pull them away from the bird and carve at the joint at the same time.
7. We suggest putting all of the white meat on one side of a serving platter and dark meat on the other so that guests can easily distinguish one from the other.
8. It is normal to leave some meat on the carcass. It can be taken off later by hand when it cools or you can boil it to make a soup.

Some people like to brine turkeys as the seasonings used can add unique flavours to the bird. Brining is especially popular when smoking a bird as the longer cooking time would otherwise dry it out.