Okay to cook the turkey the night before?

[Whatstherecipe]

I have a sizeable turkey and a rubbish oven - it gets very moody if I put in more than one thing, and has a temperature control best described as artic or hellfire with very little in-between 🤔

I have an air fryer for when it's just us, but last time I did a sizeable Sunday roast, we ate several hours late.

Thinking ahead to Sunday, the oven will need to perform for the roast potatoes. There is no way it will cope with the turkey too. Can you see any problem with cooking the turkey the day before, popping in the fridge once cold and then slice and heat up the day after?

Totally fine. We cook ours on slow overnight in a tinfoil tent then in the morning take the tinfoil off and give it a blast to finish it off. All done by 8.00 am

I always cook the turkey on its own first, take it out and wrap it up and then cook the rest.

My bird is sliced and in the freezer at the moment, so it will be fine. Mine's down to disability rather than the cooker. It does mean you won't have the Xmas effect all morning. The first time we did this I did feel something was missing.

Do this every year. Cook turkey Xmas eve morning. Let it rest and ool. Carve onto plates. Plates in fridge. Bring out sonics not Arctic a couple of hours before serving.
Ince everything is with it inc piping hot gravy no one notices its cold. I don't heat it up.

How big is the Turkey

You can cook same day and leave to rest for a couple of hours, wrap up in tinfoil, civet with towel, stays hot.

Okay, this sounds good then 🙂

I thought it should be fine, but mentioned it in passing to an acquaintance, who did a kind of 😬face but didn't elaborate. I was just checking I hadn't missed the memo!

Tbh I love the fact I can carve it, deal with the carcass and make stock on Xmas eve. Much less to do after eating on Xmas day.

@namechangeymcchange approx 6kg

How do you plan to stop the turkey from going dry after being reheated?

I wouldn’t. It’s just not as nice. And Turkey isn’t great at rhe best of times

I follow Jamie Oliver’s recommendation. I cook it then I wrap in tin foil and a couple of heavy towels and sit it out the way. For at least 3 hours.

it rests beautifully and is very moist, but is still piping hot. In the next three hours you can use the over for everything else.

I'm cooking our turkey tomorrow morning, slicing it all up and then putting it in the fridge, making stock with the bones, and feeding the cats any scraps. I can then get rid of the remains so it isn't cluttering the fridge up.

You reheat turkey best by doing it in a pan with gravy, then it doesn't dry out at all.

Thank you for that! I am going to do that, too. Sounds brilliant.

Turkey is so much more tasty than chicken.

You will be astonished at how hot it’s stays, as in steam coming off it level of hot. Wrap it up well , and just forget about it, I’ve done it for about a decade now. Hands down the best way to do it and the easiest.

Yes of course. It needs as much resting as cooking in most cases.

Won't a sizeable turkey need to rest for long enough to cook the roasties?

Can the roasties be done in the air fryer?

When I catered for large numbers I cooked and carved the turkey on Xmas Eve, then put it into foil with a spray of water to reheat it.
Numbers have dropped now and we're back to cooking on Xmas morning. It does taste nicer, but needs must.

We have always done this too.

We cook the Turkey the morning of Christmas Eve then put it a saucepan containing gravy just before serving. Less stressful Christmas morning with a houseful of family.