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Cooking Turkey the Day Before
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Posted by kaelkriver (My Page) on Fri, Nov 20, 09 at 10:08
| I roast my turkey breasts (3 at about 8# each) the day before Thanksgiving. Trying to coordinate everything coming together at dinner time is way too stressful for me. To heat it up I usually bring some broth to boil, turn it down to a simmer and add the turkey. It usually works pretty well but is there a better way to do this? Or is there something I could add to the broth, like wine or fresh rosemary, that would enhance the flavor? I'm pretty sure others cook ahead and I'm just wondering how they do it.
Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Cooking Turkey the Day Before
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| Kaelkriver, I think that the way you are warming up your turkey is probably the way that most people do it when they roast the day before. But for me turkey (all meats actually) taste best when they are roasted and served the same day and aren't reheated. As much as I love leftover turkey for hot or cold sandwiches, it does taste like leftovers to me and not quite the same as just roasted. Have you tried getting everything else ready first and roasting your turkey breasts last? They can sit for an hour, kept warm by covering well with foil and topping with something like a heavy towel to keep the heat in, while you finish preparing your mashed potatoes and other sides. I get the vegetables all cleaned and ready to cook early in the day, and most vegetables don't take long to cook at the last minute. Even your dressing can be baked earlier in the day if you want or put into the oven after the turkey comes out. And gravy can be made while the vegetables are cooking and the turkey is roasting. About the only things I prepare a day ahead are the cranberries and dessert.
Ann |
RE: Cooking Turkey the Day Before
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| The problem is those darned mashed potatoes. You have to make them at the last minute when you are busy carving three turkey breasts! |
RE: Cooking Turkey the Day Before
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| I hear what you're saying Ann, and maybe I'll save one for the "day" but I really like doing it the day before. I also make my gravy, and it turns out really well. I think I enjoy my company more. The potatoes aren't a big deal because I do that before everyone arrives too. I just do them that morning and put into the crockpot. They're jazzed up with sour cream, cream cheese with chives, butter, etc. They're very good. |
RE: Cooking Turkey the Day Before
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Stir fri:
Ann is right but you may want to add it to a gravy instesad of broth.
You don't have to make the darned mashed potatoes , at the last minute.
Lou |
RE: Cooking Turkey the Day Before
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I have a friend who has a huge family...4 kids who each have 3 or 4 kids....and one daughtere married an orthodox Jew and the whole family keeps kosher...but my friend doesn't have the facility to serve a huge kosher meal....and besides the rest of the family likes sausage stuffing, milk in the mashed potatoes and creamed onions.
So she cooks a Kosher Turkey the day before and puts it in a glass baking dish and pours over it some of the broth made from cooking the neck and the broth from the pan. Covers it all and the next day that goes into a slow oven for about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile she's doing the sausage stuffing and roasting the big bird in the other oven.
Linda C |
RE: Cooking Turkey the Day Before
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| I'd rather do the tatties earlier and reheat them. It's my gravy that creates the last minute bottleneck. |
RE: Cooking Turkey the Day Before
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| The type of mashed potatoes made with cream/milk, butter, sour cream, egg and cream cheese freezes well. I make up a big dish of them a week before needed, cover tightly and pop it in the freezer removing it the day before needed to defrost in the fridge. Then into a 325 degree oven, covered with foil, to heat with pats of butter on top. Uncover the last 15 minutes and the top will brown a bit. Also I use the same mashed potato recipe and freeze twice baked potatoes. After I fill the potato skins I place them on a cookie sheet, slide them in the freezer for an hour and a half, then remove them and package, frozen, in plastic bags. Nice to have these on hand ready to heat on busy days. |
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