topic Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe in Recipes

A Turkey Tale of Woe

hick — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 11:35:47 GMT

This has NEVER happened to me before in all my years (many) of roasting turkeys.

10 days ago, I bought a fresh ButterBall turkey - about 11 lbs. I always buy BB. In my opinion, it's the best. Sell by date was 11/28.

The turkey had been in the fridge since I brought it home. After several days, I noticed a smell. Hmmmm I thought. What's this about??? The smell got a little stronger. I called the BB hot line. The woman told me that a poultry smell was normal. Long story short - I decided to cook the turkey yesterday. Opened it and got knocked out by the smell. UGH!!! Smelled up my whole kitchen. Gross!!!!!

Brought it back to the store (in a double bagged black bag) and had to get a Shady Brook. Not a happy camper was I.

I called the BB hot line again. They were very nice and connected me to their Consumer complaint person. She took a lot of info. I told her the following was my theory - BB has "improved" their packaging and now has a way of opening the plastic without needing scissors or a knife. I think that this "seal" was not air tight, air got into the turkey and Voila! stinky turkey.

Anyway....cooked the Shady Brook - not nearly as good as BB but did finally get the smell out of my kitchen.

Thankful for everything, everyday.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

aroc3435 — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 12:00:50 GMT

@hick Good that you were on top of it and that you were able to get a different turkey in time. Your theory sounds correct that it wasn't sealed airtight.

Here's hoping that the rest of your cooking will go smoothly today.

Perhaps your input (and maybe that of others if your incident is happening to others) will prompt Butterball to reconsider the new packaging.

I have never found it that difficult to get a whole chicken or turkey very difficult to remove from its sealed wrapper.

Sometimes "new aand improved" just isn't a good idea.

Have a very happy, and uneventful, Thanksgiving.

aroc3435

Washington, DC

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

Desertdi — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 12:31:58 GMT

Indeed.......a very woeful tale...........

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

millieshops — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 13:03:22 GMT

@hick sad, ugly story. Unless that turkey was meant to be frozen instead of in the meat display, your wrap theory makes total sense. End of story is less sad.

Hoping your sides sides are so good, they make up for the foul fowl.

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

KBEANS — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 13:38:05 GMT

@hick

LOL, I'm gagging because that happened to me one Thanksgiving and I can almost smell that odor! Needless to say we had lasagna and sides that year. I'm always hesitant with the fresh turkeysnow, unless I get one directly at the butcher.

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

Desertdi — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 14:51:03 GMT

@KBEANS wrote:
@hick

LOL, I'm gagging because that happened to me one Thanksgiving and I can almost smell that odor! Needless to say we had lasagna and sides that year. I'm always hesitant with the fresh turkeysnow, unless I get one directly at the butcher.

@KBEANS Years ago, I unpacked my groceries and found a package of chicken that had gone bad, maybe from the extremely hot weather. The STENCH was so horrible, I "gagged" into the kitchen sink. It was at least 20 years before I ate chicken again, and that is deep fried from "The Colonel".

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

cookie16 — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 15:32:58 GMT

I too always prefer Butterball turkeys. This year I purchased a 12lb frozen bird and immediately put it into my freezer. I took it out to defrost and for the first time ever, it was thawing and leaking outside the packaging. I had it in a roasting pan on paper towels and noticed the wet become pinkish but no smell. I read your post at 6:30am and immediately got up, opened up my turkey and it smelled fine. Just a leaking package I believe. If they changed the way they package then I wish they would go back to original. Never had an issue prior to this year. Looking forward to dinner later. Thanks for posting, I had visions of having to have Boston Market dinner today. Happy Thanksgiving.

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

chickenbutt — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 16:35:51 GMT

I would never have imagined that raw poultry would stay fresh for that long unless you freeze it. But I see what you're saying about the 'best by' date.

I purchased a fresh breast a week ahead and figured I would have to freeze it for a few of those days, so that's what I did.

Glad things ended up ok!

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

Kachina624 — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 17:39:47 GMT

I can't imagine keeping any unfrozen meat for 10 days and expecting it to stay fresh. My mom bought fresh turkeys and always picked them up the day before she cooked them. I've always bought frozen.

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

Big Joanie — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 17:44:15 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
I can't imagine keeping any unfrozen meat for 10 days and expecting it to stay fresh. My mom bought fresh turkeys and always picked them up the day before she cooked them. I've always bought frozen.

That is exactly what I was going to say .. I can't imagine keeping any fresh

meat for keeping 10 days ....We used to get fresh turkeys at a turkey farm and we

would pick them up no sooner than the Tuesday before .....usually Wednesday ....

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

PickyPicky3 — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 22:14:02 GMT

Last month I went online to check the latest refrigeration recommendations for fresh poultry. I was surprised it's use or freeze within 48 hours of going into your refrigerator no matter what the package best, sell or use by date says.

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

FatCatinCT — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 16:30:51 GMT

Good lord, a "fresh" turkey sitting in the fridge for 10 days will absolutely go bad! Even a 11lb frozen turkey would take 2-3 days to unthaw in the fridge and then only good for an addition 2 days in fridge.

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

jubilant — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 16:41:53 GMT

I bought my 11 pound Butterball turkey frozen. I put it in refrigerator 3 days ahead of time to thaw and it still had a very small amount of ice in the cavity. It also had the perforations but mine was fine and wasn't leaking.

The one thing I did notice (and was a little disappointed in this year) was I didn't think it had quite as much flavor as usual. I have been having trouble with allergies so maybe my taste was a little off??? We have always had great Butterball turkeys.

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

Knit-Chick — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 12:39:33 GMT

@hick I would have made the same mistake and thought it would be fine by the sell by date! Hope your dinner was still good!

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

happycat — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 13:37:28 GMT

@Big Joanie wrote:
@Kachina624 wrote:
I can't imagine keeping any unfrozen meat for 10 days and expecting it to stay fresh. My mom bought fresh turkeys and always picked them up the day before she cooked them. I've always bought frozen.
That is exactly what I was going to say .. I can't imagine keeping any fresh
meat for keeping 10 days ....We used to get fresh turkeys at a turkey farm and we
would pick them up no sooner than the Tuesday before .....usually Wednesday ....

So does the sell by date not mean anything then? When I buy meat, I go by the sell by date. If it said sell by the 28th, I think it should have been good till the 28th.

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

happycat — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 13:41:10 GMT

@hick wrote:
This has NEVER happened to me before in all my years (many) of roasting turkeys.
10 days ago, I bought a fresh ButterBall turkey - about 11 lbs. I always buy BB. In my opinion, it's the best. Sell by date was 11/28.
The turkey had been in the fridge since I brought it home. After several days, I noticed a smell. Hmmmm I thought. What's this about??? The smell got a little stronger. I called the BB hot line. The woman told me that a poultry smell was normal. Long story short - I decided to cook the turkey yesterday. Opened it and got knocked out by the smell. UGH!!! Smelled up my whole kitchen. Gross!!!!!
Brought it back to the store (in a double bagged black bag) and had to get a Shady Brook. Not a happy camper was I.
I called the BB hot line again. They were very nice and connected me to their Consumer complaint person. She took a lot of info. I told her the following was my theory - BB has "improved" their packaging and now has a way of opening the plastic without needing scissors or a knife. I think that this "seal" was not air tight, air got into the turkey and Voila! stinky turkey.
Anyway....cooked the Shady Brook - not nearly as good as BB but did finally get the smell out of my kitchen.
Thankful for everything, everyday.
Happy Thanksgiving all.

I'm sorry that happened to you, I feel like this is a thing where BB should leave well enough alone. If its not broke, don't fix it by messing with the backaging.

I'd have thought it should have still been good by the sell by date too. What are we to go by, if we can't go by the sell by date?

Re: A Turkey Tale of Woe

Mj12 — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 13:48:32 GMT

I am glad you were able to get a replacement turkey in time.

I would never in a million years leave a raw protein in my fridge for 9+ days. I'm sure many people do with no issues, but IMO just no.