Bloke turned his turkey metallic and risked eating it anyway

While it’s arguably the driest of meats, there’s no stopping some people eating turkey at this time of year.

Well, unless they end up being totally rotten or don’t show up in their supermarket order I guess.

And this bloke was happy to risk eating his bird (the winged kind, I mean) even after turning it metallic.

User ChefBigD210 took to Reddit to ask for advice on ‘what happened’ to his meat.

The ‘chef’ shared a snap of a flattened turkey laid out in a metal tray with a lot of it all a dark grey colour rather than the typical pinky shade of raw meat.

They explained: “I brined my turkey for about 24 hours in this pan and when I pulled it out of the brine it looked like this.”

Brining meat is when it’s soaked in a salt water solution before cooking and it stops the bird from ending up all chewy and dry by adding flavour and changing the physical texture of the flesh.

But what it shouldn’t be doing is making it a shade of silvery grey.

Because this person had used the metal tray for their oh-so-important brining, they’ve coated the turkey in metallic ions.

Food experts and chefs warn against doing this, also advising to use ‘non-reactive containers’ for the process.

This is because the aluminium reacts to the salt in the brine and then the metallic ions transfer onto the meat.

In the most extreme scenarios, eating ‘metallic’ meat can cause metal poisoning and be damaging to your health.

Experts at Taste of Home recommend using a plastic container, resealable bag or stainless steel bowl for brining instead.

Users were quick to point out in the comments: “Don’t brine in metal pans. Ever. This is the result. You need to toss it.”

Getty Stock Photo

Many simply recommended: “Throw it out and start over,” as they say they ‘made science happen’.

One even asked: “My dude, what’s cheaper, ordering a pizza or getting your stomach pumped?”

In an update from the original poster, turns out the turkey was actually eaten and potentially served to their guests at home.

They wrote: “I cut off a piece of the turkey that was grey and cooked it to 165 and it didn't taste metallic or off putting at all.

“Also it was just the skin that was grey, the meat underneath it looked fine. I think imma risk it for dinner at home. I'll update if I die or not.'

But a doctor even shared the snap to X to say: “Please don’t eat this turkey.” Eep.

Topics: Food And Drink, Weird, Christmas

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_