Christmas turkey: how would this stay warm

[SillyBillyMother]

I found this on Instagram which looks amazing (although I'm mostly vegetarian so probably won't eat it) but she says to rest it for between an hour and two hours! Would it stay hot if you double wrapped it in foil?

www.instagram.com/reel/CmjD9HaIb-A/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

You could double wrap in foil then wrap a couple of towels around it. It wouldn't be piping hot, but as she says if gravy is v hot then should be fine. Alternatively you could carve some slices and cover with gravy and give a quick blast in microwave.

Yeah, cover in a couple of layers of foil then towels, it will stay plenty warm enough especially if seeved with hot sides and gravy (and on warmed plates!)

Yeah when we do the turkey ahead of time we put tin foil over the top and then multiple layers of clean tea towels over that. It’s not ‘fresh out the oven hot’ when we come to serve but it is still warm

Yes of course how else do you think the potatoes and parsnips are going to get cooked without removing the turkey and resting it.

Uergh no food poisoning nightmare waiting to happen.

I always do this, double wrap in foil and then a bath towel. Easily stays hot for a couple of hours.

@L3ThirtySeven how do you think it’s done in restaurants that serve Christmas dinner?

as per previous posters, tinfoil and teatowel.

Was just coming on to say the same thing. It is prepared ahead and carved up so easier to plate it up and serve everybody rather than standing around waiting for it to be carved.

Not sure why you would get food poisoning from resting meat. From Jamie Oliver's website

"And don’t forget to leave time for your turkey to rest when it comes out of the oven. Turkeys between 4-6kg should be rested for 1½ hours, and ones from 6-10kg can rest for two hours."

Yes, and in fact you are supposed to let it “rest” to let juices settle. It’s far better., and easier to carve. If you look at Nigella, Mary Berry etc they all recommend it. Foil, towels and out of a draught will be fine for a couple of hours. I have done it for over 20 years like this.

It's actually recommended to let turkey sit for an hour after cooking to let all the juices settle. (Wrap loosely in tin foil as others have said) Uncarved it takes ages to cool.

I usually cook my meat joint before putting anything else in the oven, therefore leave my meat on the side to rest. The meat is, after 2 hours of resting with foil and a couple of towels, too hot to handle. The core temperature of the meat inside will keep the meat hot for a long time.

Yes turkey needs at least an hour to rest. It won’t be blisteringly hot but it’s better like that anyway.

Well this is a revelation. I knew it should rest but I thought about 20 mins. Excellent. Christmas dinner just started to look significantly easier! Thanks all.

Yes, the recipe is correct. Mine stays very hot with just a single layer of foil. I do keep it in the original tray though. As long as it is a whole bird it should stay very hot for a surprisingly long period of time. No risk of food poisoning as long as it was cooked properly and it is freshly prepared. When completely cool I use it for cold cuts etc. for up to 6 days in the fridge set to 4 degrees.

I kept a probe in last Christmas just to see what was happening. The temperature was actually increasing for about 8-10 minutes after removing. So-called carry-over cooking. I let it rest for about 1 hour. It really does make a tremendous difference to the succulence and tenderness.

I don't tend to have gravy as such. I'm more of a meat juices and lemon juice/vinegar kind of person, but the heat from gravy should be more than enough. I usually have other vegetables in the oven while the turkey rests and then I use these to warm up the meat just a bit. I use veg like potato as a 'hot water bottle' to warm up my meat and also warm my plate up in the oven.