to think that you could feasibly cook a turkery overnight on xmas eve

[DamnBamboo]

on a very, very low temperature?

What do you think?

I'm talking the lowest setting on the oven, on at 11pm off at 7am.

What do you think would happen? Has anybody ever done this?

[StrawberriesTasteLikeLipsDo]

My mum does that every year and then warms it in grAvy on the day

[MissCellania]

Well you could, but are you going to get it hot enough to make it safe, or create an overnight breeding ground for food poisoning bugs?

[cardibach]

You probably could but why would you want to?

[fortyplus]

I wouldn't fancy it with a whole bird but I've done it with a boned and rolled one. Very tasty but doesn't look as good.

[Gumby]

Are you going to eat it for breakfast?

[HollyBerryBush]

Depends on the size of the turkey.

Lets assume you eat at midday. Lets also assume you put the giant bird in at midnight. Even if you did a low cook on 30mins per lb thats an ostrich you are cooking not a turkey. Most people make the mistake of cooking it to death so it's as dry as old boots.

[Sirzy]

We cook ours Christmas eve.

Who would baste it? Check it wasn't over cooking?

[lovebunny]

my parents did it for at least forty years.

[DamnBamboo]

Ha. No, not for breakfast and I won't be doing this, it's for a relative who has a tiny, tiny oven only. She would not be able to fit bird, spuds, stuffing, pigs in blankets all in the space she has.

For some people it's needs must, not about wanting to and yes, it would get up to temperature to finish it off. Probably no different to slow cooking meat joints, which I regularly do, just don't know if doing so in an oven rather than a slow cooker would make much of a difference

[redexpat]

Can you program the oven to come on at a certain time? My mum preps the turkey the night before, leaves it in the oven, sets the oven to come on at whatever time in the morning.

[DamnBamboo]

Well you're still here lovebunny so that's a good sign

I don't suppose you remember what the turkey was like do you?

[redexpat]

Oh right ignore my suggestion then. Sorry!

[DamnBamboo]

don't know if a whole bird could overcook if put in at 100 surely?

If it is a brined turkey, much-reduced need for basting

[poncyettia]

Mine goes in the aga when I get home from Midnight mass - my gran did it, mum did it and I've just followed suit. It wouldn't be Christmas without trying to wrestle the turkey into the oven while emptying the Christmas Port

[lovebunny]

my parents' turkeys were big - 24lb, and the tenderest, juiciest most delicious...bought from a local farm and stuffed with parents' homemade sage and onion stuffing (more properly called butter, onion and a bit of sage with a couple of loaves of breadcrumbs and lots of salt and pepper stuffing) and i think they probably started it off at a higher temperature then turned it down to do for hours and hours. it was a traditional way... there's probably stuff about how to do it if you google.

[AMumInScotland]

Why not just cook it at normal temperatures during the day on Christmas Eve, let it cool down and put it in the fridge? Or carve and put in the fridge if her fridge is also teeny. Serve up cold or pop in oven or microwave if you feel you really have to warm it through.

[DewDr0p]

But potatoes, stuffing etc take an hour or less to cook.

She could simply put the bird in an hour earlier and then cover with double layer of foil and a few towels while she roasts potatoes etc. Or cook it on Christmas Eve.

[beanandspud]

It sounds a bit like a recipe for either food poisoning or a very over-cooked turkey.

If the oven is small you could put the turkey in at 6am. Depending on the size it would be cooked by late morning and if you keep covered with foil and maybe a towel it'll still be fine for lunchtime.

[DewDr0p]

Great minds think alike beanandspud

[germyrabbit]

my mum also did this for 20 years or so wouldn't have got owt else in the oven otherwise

[DamnBamboo]

It's not for me. I always find reheated poultry never as good, especially after it has been refrigerated, and especially after it has been slice and refrigerated. She also doesn't have room in her fridge

I will get her to read the whole thread, so thanks everyone. I think she wants a freshly cooked turkey rather than a reheated cooked one so at least I now know that people do it.

Poncey and lovebunny do you cover the bird,or brine it? How do prevent it from drying out?

[DamnBamboo]

My guess is before modern ovens, many people (with much larger families) will have to had to have done this and probably not many will have died on boxing day from food poisoning, so the alarmists among you need to relax.

It was more about the quality of the meat, not food poisoning.

Slow cookers never get to high temps like an oven and I have never been poisoned by meat cooked in one.

[germyrabbit]

i remember my mum (born in 1930) being so excited about her double oven, so she could cook yorkshires and warm plates without disturbing the main oven

[AMumInScotland]

My oven is quite a normal size, but I don't attempt to have the turkey and everything else in there together. Since the meat carves better after it has been out for a while, I don't put the bits and pieces in until the bird comes out. Just turkey and potatoes together, then potatoes & everything else. In fact even the potatoes don't need to go in till the bird comes out if you have parboiled them.

[wigglesrock]

That's how my Mum does it - she has been known to get up at 3am and put the turkey in