I have seen some different items, with that shape, so .....
it can be a shock sensor (used in alarms for prevent items stealing) ..... also, we used in the past a thermal protector with that same shape (bimetallic thermic switch) ..... or it can be a miniature radiation revealer tube EDIT: Geiger tube, i mean (the ones i've seen was bigger, but the shape was similar) .....
Some other things come in mind, but less probable .....
It could be a geiger tube, but it would be very tiny and there doesn't appear to be enough isolation between the anode and cathode; they operate around 1kV. I would guess a mercury switch.
Is it the actual turkey shrinker? At first I thought it was a turkey transmogrifier, but those are usually rectangular prismatics, not cylindrical. But then again, turkey shrinkers usually have a TIP (turkey interface plane) port parallel to the electrodes, so it's not that....
It's not a laser diode, because I don't think laser diodes have been invented yet....
Could it be the device that cools the turkey AFTER it has been shrinked and deep-fried?
I think its quite small, and those two metal pins are 2.5 or 5 mm apart as to fit a circuit board.
Question remains what it actually is - could be photodiode, but also a small gas sensor or even a geiger counter tube... or perhaps even an ancient LED.