Smoking Turkey the day before

[PrayinPig]

Because of the time of day we will be eating on Thanksgiving, I'm thinking about smoking the Turkey the day before. But what's the best way to keep it moist and reheat it. I was thinking of wrapping it in foil and and then maybe putting cling wrap around that to hold in moisture. Then remove cling wrap the next day and reheat with some water in the pan. What should be the reheat temp? How long does that take? Other thoughts that would make this plan better?

 

[kilo charlie]

When you reheat it in the oven, try it covered in foil at 350F for about 1 hour..adding chicken stock or water for the moisture to help steam the turkey. That's assuming that you've carved it and sliced it all up. No real need for the cling wrap but if you use it, put it under the foil.

 

[PrayinPig]

So you would slice it before reheating?

 

[PrayinPig]

When you reheat it in the oven, try it covered in foil at 350F for about 1 hour..adding chicken stock or water for the moisture to help steam the turkey. That's assuming that you've carved it and sliced it all up. No real need for the cling wrap but if you use it, put it under the foil.

So you would slice it before reheating?

 

[Gonna Smoke]

So you would slice it before reheating?

I personally would not...

 

[kilo charlie]

If you slice it all down and put it in a foil pan, add some chicken stock, cover it with foil and put it in the 350F oven it'll take about 1 hour to heat all the way through. If you leave it whole, I have no idea how long it will take as I've not done that before.

Perhaps others with different experience will chime in.

I personally slice my turkeys like Alton Brown in the video below. ( TulsaJeff - need a wiki on embedding YouTube videos... maybe you or another admin can fix this post)

 

[Marknmd]

...

I personally slice my turkeys like Alton Brown in the video below. ( TulsaJeff - need a wiki on embedding YouTube videos... maybe you or another admin can fix this post)

Whenever I embed a youtube vid, I just post the entire url onto this page and it magically becomes embedded. I will edit your quoted post and see if it becomes embedded...

 

[kilo charlie]

Whenever I embed a youtube vid, I just post the entire url onto this page and it magically becomes embedded. I will edit your quoted post and see if it becomes embedded...

Thank you and fixed!

 

[djnordeen]

I have smoked 2 days before and cut and sliced turkey day of Thanksgiving and put in a roaster oven set on warm 200 with some good chicken broth in it.
Works well

 

[tallbm]

Because of the time of day we will be eating on Thanksgiving, I'm thinking about smoking the Turkey the day before. But what's the best way to keep it moist and reheat it. I was thinking of wrapping it in foil and and then maybe putting cling wrap around that to hold in moisture. Then remove cling wrap the next day and reheat with some water in the pan. What should be the reheat temp? How long does that take? Other thoughts that would make this plan better?

Hi there and welcome!

I would make sure to hedge my bets by brining the turkey before cooking it. At the very least injecting with a marinade at levels I know work (that stuff can get salty).

Since this turkey is going to be heated twice total I would cook just to 158-160F in the breast. That way the temp doesn't raise over 165F when u pull it out.

I would reheat to 160F as well to let it coast to 165F again.

I think no matter what your skin will not turn out crispy but if cooked at a high enough temp initially is likely to be edible vs rubbery/leathery.

Those are the answers I have to your questions.

NOW if I were in your shoes I personally would take an alternate approach and smoke it to like 155F in the breast.
Pull it and remove the breast from the bones, remove the whole wings, and whole quarters (thigh and drum). Also save all the juices.

On turkey day, I would would reheat by putting in a pan with the juices and some chicken stock and covering tightly with foil and cooking to 160F or so letting it carry to 165F.

There are some other more involved options that would yield amazing results but lets see how these sound first lol. I hope this info helps :)

 

[DougE]

Been smoking my Thanksgiving turkey a day or two ahead for a few years now. I carve it and put it in foil pans with some stock for the reheat, Yeah, you don't have that nice presentation with the whole bird on the table, and all that, but the people I feed just want to be fed.