Make turkey a week early, freeze, thaw, warm?

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TikkaShooter
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12:27p, 11/16/21
With the exception of the turkey skin possibly being strange texture and not crispy...any reason I cant make the turkey this weekend, let it cool, break it down into its pieces, freeze, and thaw next week?

Wondering if the turkey may actually be juicer, albeit less crispy skin.

Thoughts?
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DiskoTroop
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12:36p, 11/16/21
I'd be worried about the texture and moisture. Reheating would ultimately amount to steaming the meat in the oven, for which you'd either use the meat's innate moisture to do that and dry it out, or you'd have to add moisture somewhere and truly steam it.

I suppose you could vac seal and sous vide back to temp?

Idk about this idea.
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TikkaShooter
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In reply to DiskoTroop • 12:42p, 11/16/21
I was thinking of using a roasting oven on 175, covering the meat, adding stock. For the RE-heat
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DiskoTroop
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1:43p, 11/16/21
That might do it. I'd just be real worried about the meat drying out. At that low temp you'd need to continually make sure there's stock in the pan. Maybe even stir it up? So it all gets exposed directly to stock at some point? Not sure. Basting?
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62strat
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12:15p, 11/17/21
AG
Why not cook to a lower temp initially, say 135-140 or so?

Then next thursday, your cook time is more in line with a reheat time. (I'm assuming you're trying to save time on thursday?)
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MichaelJ
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9:16p, 11/17/21
AG
Why not sous vide and then crisp in the broiler
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FIDO*98*
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10:01p, 11/17/21
AG
If you're roaster is going to be re-heating Turkey anyway why not just cook it fresh? In your scenario, you'd be breaking it down anyway so spatchcock it if you need to cut down on heating time. Re-heating in stock, will make it wet, not juicier. Same concept as cooking chicken breast in a crock pot. It's not moist and juicy, it's stringy with bad texture.

Turkey sucks, so at the end of the day just do whatever you want and give thanks that it only gets served once a year
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combat wombat™
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6:37a, 11/18/21
AG
I have found sous vide to be the best way to reheat meat without losing quality. A turkey would be a lot of meat to get into a sous vide bath.
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Bobcat-Ag
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8:15a, 11/18/21
Could you reheat it with a confit?
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MichaelJ
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In reply to FIDO*98* • 8:25a, 11/18/21
AG
FIDO*98* said:
If you're roaster is going to be re-heating Turkey anyway why not just cook it fresh? In your scenario, you'd be breaking it down anyway so spatchcock it if you need to cut down on heating time. Re-heating in stock, will make it wet, not juicier. Same concept as cooking chicken breast in a crock pot. It's not moist and juicy, it's stringy with bad texture.

Turkey sucks, so at the end of the day just do whatever you want and give thanks that it only gets served once a year


You suck - turkey is god's gift to poultry
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TikkaShooter
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9:57a, 11/22/21
Well, this is done. Spatched the bird, cooked it, pulled into parts, and frozen.

I'll report back on Thursday
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combat wombat™
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In reply to TikkaShooter • 10:03a, 11/22/21
AG
If you have a sous vide warm it up that way.
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ol'Porkbelly
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8:48a, 11/23/21
AG
I always break down my turkey and sous vide. You get to use the car as for stock/gravy, the breasts turns out great and you can roast the heck out of the dark meat without worrying about drying out the breast. Plus, you free up oven space on Thanksgiving day. Only downside is the presentation of a nicely browned whole bird but that's not important to me at all.
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GAC06
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In reply to TikkaShooter • 8:51a, 11/23/21
AG
Why?
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combat wombat™
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In reply to GAC06 • 10:38a, 11/23/21
AG
Not everyone has the oven space to devote 4 hours to cooking a turkey on Thanksgiving day. Makes it difficult to cook much else if you have a big bird.

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fav13andac1)c
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In reply to TikkaShooter • 10:41a, 11/23/21
AG
TikkaShooter said:
Well, this is done. Spatched the bird, cooked it, pulled into parts, and frozen.

I'll report back on Thursday
Asks opinion. Gets opinion. Goes against opinion.

Classic. Godspeed. Looking forward to hearing the results.
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GAC06
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In reply to combat wombat™ • 11:48a, 11/23/21
AG
That's why the spatchcock method was good advice instead of serving reheated turkey
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combat wombat™
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In reply to GAC06 • 11:54a, 11/23/21
AG
FTR, I am doing it spatchcock. I have reheated a lot of meats using sous vide and it's almost as good as the first time around. If he follows that advice, he may not be in bad shape.
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GAC06
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In reply to combat wombat™ • 1:13p, 11/23/21
AG
My favorite way to keep the oven free for sides is frying the turkey
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FIDO*98*
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In reply to combat wombat™ • 1:29p, 11/23/21
AG
combat wombat said:
Not everyone has the oven space to devote 4 hours to cooking a turkey on Thanksgiving day. Makes it difficult to cook much else if you have a big bird.



If only the OP had a roaster he could use
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combat wombat™
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In reply to FIDO*98* • 2:27p, 11/23/21
AG
FIDO*98* said:
combat wombat said:
Not everyone has the oven space to devote 4 hours to cooking a turkey on Thanksgiving day. Makes it difficult to cook much else if you have a big bird.




If only the OP had a roaster he could use


Touche
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TikkaShooter
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11:34a, 11/29/21
Report

Turned out fantastic. Will never get up early to cook bird again

Brined bird from TJs
Spatchcock method. 50 min total
Pulled into parts and frozen

Thawed in fridge day before

Warming cupboard on 175
Cooling rack in pan with stock, butter, thyme/rosemary. Meat on rack

I covered with foil and basted every 30 min. Took 3 hours to heat to 150.

Stuck under broiler, plate, eat.

Fantastic flavor, not dry, zero hassle.
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aggiespartan
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11:53a, 11/29/21
AG
Our turkey didn't even take 3 hours to cook, but you reheated it for 3 hours? Do not understand the benefit.
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GAC06
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11:58a, 11/29/21
AG
That sounds like the exact opposite of "zero hassle" to me, but glad to hear it turned out nice
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Jack Ruby
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In reply to TikkaShooter • 12:55p, 11/29/21
With all of that work, why not just cook it the day of?

And yes, turkey blows.
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combat wombat™
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1:16p, 11/29/21
AG
Yeah, my bird took 80 minutes. Less than 1 and 1/2 hours.

DORK!
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TikkaShooter
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4:19p, 11/29/21
One less thing to clean up in the kitchen.

Reheat bird vs mess with raw turkey.

Yes, sticking in warming cupboard is so much work. Took lots of monitoring :|
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fav13andac1)c
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In reply to TikkaShooter • 4:44p, 11/29/21
AG
TikkaShooter said:
One less thing to clean up in the kitchen.

Reheat bird vs mess with raw turkey.

Yes, sticking in warming cupboard is so much work. Took lots of monitoring :|
But you just said you basted every 30 minutes.
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GAC06
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In reply to TikkaShooter • 5:44p, 11/29/21
AG
Brined
Spatchcocked
Cooked
Cut up
Froze
Thawed
Filled pan with stock, herbs, butter
Reheated
Basted
Broiled
Served

Yeah sounds hassle free
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FIDO*98*
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In reply to TikkaShooter • 7:17p, 11/29/21
AG
TikkaShooter said:
Report

Turned out fantastic.


Lost all credibility with this comment. "Meh, not any worse than day of Turkey" may have been believable
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TikkaShooter
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In reply to GAC06 • 11:38p, 11/29/21
Bought it already brined.

In the end, it's just turkey. Could getaway with microwaving it too.
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