Another Turkey Question

Good question Peznt. I 'believe' it is a problem we all face and one for which none of us have a great answer...and everyone has a bit of a different opinion on it.

I'm a little 'cavalier' about the time/temp/salmonella/microbes thing and might try to stretch it with the turkey well wrapped and in a styro cooler, and then depending upon the temperature right before serving I'd have to decide whether to heat it some more.

Maybe I'm cavalier because I've never had a problem. I'm otherwise terribly persnickety over poultry handling, washing, drying, cleaning, etc. I suppose if I did have a problem sometime I'd reverse and only serve dried turkey jerky on T'day!

Unfortunately, whatever you do will compromise the quality of the end product...chilled reheated is, well, just that. Held and reheated isn't a lot better, but a little. I 'think' keeping it plenty warm over the wait period, but not having it 'cook' anymore is your best bet. Can you accomplish that, who knows, huh? Especially because T'day dinners traditionally run late.

Others may chime in here, but I think it's a head-scratcher for most of us, and I'll have the same situation tomorrow. For what it's worth, I'm cooking early and holding.

Maybe others with more catering experience can provide some insight here? I think it's easy enough to make the dinner safe, but how do you not compromise the quality of the meat while so doing?

I've got the same situation, smoke, cool, transport and reheat OR up at 4:00am, smoke, wrap, transport 2 hrs, reheat and brown skin.
I've decided to get up at 4:00, smoke an 18lb bird that's been brining since yesterday morning, wrap it in foil and blanket, into cooler and reheat at the inlaws. I'm planning on a 6hr smoke, 20 min./lb and being on the road before noon. I'm gonna take some pictures and will post the results. Hope it works.

quote:

Peznt

When in question about serving good or bad food I like to watch everyone else eat it, wait and then decide if I'm going to have some or not

Thanks for the input.
Decided to go with plan C, will smoke cook one turkey and oven cook the other here as well timing so they finish about the same time.Wrap in foil, cooler etc. transport to Mothers, will also then have the oven at Mom's free for sides to finish up etc.

Seems like the best option.

Happy Turkey Day
Peznt