If there was a product for keeping a cooked turkey hot and juicy for up to 3 hours after cooking? I would be interested in hearing about it.
By Christine Mullen from Indian Head, SK
No matter what you do, if you keep any food warm, it's going to continue to cook, but there are ways to sustain most of the moisture. Your best bet is put it in a deep pan after it's cooked, pour all of the pan juices on top of it, and add broth, or salted water to fill the bottom of the pan a few inches. Keep it tightly covered with tin foil and keep in an oven set to 250. Also, turn it over every now and then. Hope this helped!
Use a crockpot. Depending on the size of the turkey, you may need two crock pots. My friend does this. She puts the turkey juices from the pan on the bottom of the crock pot and adds the sliced turkey.
Set on low heat. Cover with aluminum foil and then the lid. If you have a warm setting, set it on low for about one half hour and then turn it on warm. Be sure the turkey is not cold when adding to the crockpot.
I would think if you do not want the sliced turkey sitting in the juices, you can probably use an inverted dish or balled-up wads of aluminum foil at the bottom. Happy Thanksgiving!
Easy Instructions Things You'll Need:
A Turkey
A Turkey Sized Oven Bag
Seasonings
An Oven
An Army to Feed
Step 1 Cooking your Turkey in a BAG, is the easy way to make Thanksgiving dinner!
Step 2 After you have selected your Bird (see my How to cook turkey for Thanksgiving "How to" for cooking and thawing info), it's time to prep for "Bagging".
First, remove your bird from it's wrapper and pull the organs out (giblets)
Rinsing the entire bird is a good idea.
If you like to stuff the bird before cooking, get your stuffing ready. Otherwise, season as you normally would.
Step 3 Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour about 1 tablespoon of flour into the bag and shake it around. Next, place the entire bird in a Turkey sized Oven Bag (I use Reynolds). Place the bird, bag and all, into a roasting pan and slip right into the oven. You can cut a few small slits to let steam out, or not. (I don't).
Step 4 I find that "Bagging" my bird reduces cooking time. a 16 Pound bird takes around 2 1/2 -3 hours. If it's "stuffed" give it an extra hour!
I usually start the bird "Breast up, then finish it off, breast down. This helps keep the white meat juicy and moist. Basting is not necessary due to the plastic bag and "STEAM".
Once you think the bird is done, stick a kitchen thermometer into the breast and then the thigh. It should read between 165-180. If your bird is "stuffed", check the stuffing temp. too.
If you want the traditional presentation, remove the "Bag" for the last 30 minutes of cooking.
(Cooking in a bag can cause the turkey to fall apart).
Step 5 Remove the bird and serve as you normally would. Good luck.
The only time you should rinse a turkey is if you have brined it. If you pull a turkey out of the bag and rinse it you are just spreading bacteria all over your kitchen.
I believe that is terrible advice to not rinse a Turkey. After removing bird from wrapper, have a large pan to place it into while rinsing off original blood-juices. Ck for any bad bloody spots, etc.
