Cooking is a delicate game. It’s tempting to experiment and throw caution to the wind, but you do run the risk of poisoning yourself and your loved ones, as one Redditor found out when he attempted to brine a turkey for 24 hours only to discover it had become infused with metal from the pan he had left it in.



Posting to r/ChefIt, OP asked the community if they could figure out what happened to his turkey, which looks absolutely repulsive, with huge sections of the bird having turned completely gray.


The top comment was short and straight to the point: “Don’t brine in metal pans. Ever. This is the result. You need to toss it.” Many commenters were glad that OP’s misadventure served as a learning experience for them, as it never would have occurred to them that brining in metal pans was an issue. (For any amateur chefs out there wondering how to avoid this exact situation: commenters recommend only brining in plastic if possible.)


Another commenter elaborated, explaining, “That turkey is now impregnated with metal. It’s an oversimplification, but that bird got galvanized/anodized,” and someone else added, “It’s the ionisation and galvanic action which brine introduces that corrodes metal into the brine and then the bird.” Tasty!


Most distressingly, OP ate the turkey anyway. Posting an update in the comments a few days later, they wrote, “Yes I am alive guys! The turkey cooked fine, and the grey disappeared after cooking. It tasted great, no metallic taste or off taste whatsoever! Probably shouldn’t have cooked it, but didn’t have money to spend on takeout and everything was closed to go buy a new meal. Overall, will not do it again ????.”


In another comment, OP added that they informed their family, and they decided as a group to pan fry part of the bird quickly so they could taste it and see if it was okay. It tasted fine, so they decided to cook the entire thing. Some people like to live dangerously, I guess.



There has been no word from OP since that update, so we do not yet know what the long-term effects of consuming this turkey may have been. Here’s hoping that they and their loved ones continued to pull through.