# How to warm a pre cooked/smoked turkey?



## rbranstner

I had another post that was old and tryied to update it but it is just easier to start a new post on this. I am going to be smoking some turkeys for some people at work for Thanksgiving. My plan is to smoke them to 165-170 cool them then give them to my coworkers. They will warm it up on Thanksgiving day back up to 165. My question is how many minutes per lb would you think they can plan for when reheating. Would you figure it would be the same minutes per lb as you were cooking it from raw or will it be less minutes per lbs since it is already cooked?

Feel free to look at my old post as well to get some more info and see what people said about how to cook it and how to reheat it.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/fo...-turkey-question-for-thanksgiving#post_553135


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## rbranstner

Here is a web page I found sounds like 6-8 minutes per lb if thawed and 10-12 minutes per lb if frozen. But they also say to bring it back up to 140 but I think I would suggest bringing it back up to 165 to be on the safe side. I will have to check some more and see if 6-8 lbs is a pretty good accurate estimation on time it will take to reheat it. I know the main question people are going to have is how long will it take to reheat since you usually have a set time to eat you want to plan out your bird so it is done before that time.

http://www.nebraskapoultry.org/turkey recipes/smoked.htm


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## eman

We do it the way that Ron P posted.

I have a baking pan w/ a wire rack that keeps the bird about a half inch off the bottom of the pan. Pour chicken broth (or water w a tbsp of liquid crab boil in it) in the bottom of the pan ,Put the rack in and place bird on rack . Cover tightly w/ foil and heat @325 Till internal temp of above 160 degrees.


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## rbranstner

eman said:


> We do it the way that Ron P posted.
> 
> I have a baking pan w/ a wire rack that keeps the bird about a half inch off the bottom of the pan. Pour chicken broth (or water w a tbsp of liquid crab boil in it) in the bottom of the pan ,Put the rack in and place bird on rack . Cover tightly w/ foil and heat @325 Till internal temp of above 160 degrees.


Yep that sounds like what I was going to suggest them doing. I just wanted to get an idea of how long they could expect the bird to take to get back up to temp. Three different sites suggest 6-8 min per lb for a thawed bird so that is what I am going to tell them. It stinks not knowing how long the bird will take to reheat so I figured I better find a estimate on time for them to go by. My next though process is should I just freeze them right away after I smoke them or bring them to them at work thawed and let them do what they want with them. I would be smoking them several weeks before Thanksgiving so it would probably be best if I just freeze them. I will have to find something I can freeze them in. Any idea's. Maybe find some of those huge zip lock bags or just wrap them in freezer paper. They aren't going to be in the freezer long so I am not worried about freezer burn I just need something to put them in. Maybe even just a plastic grocery bag or two would work for something cheap.


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## alblancher

The Butterball website says that a cooked frozen or fresh turkey should be removed from the bone and broken into smaller pieces before freezing.   They also say to allow 1 day for every 4 lbs to properly defrost in the fridge.

If you are going for taste I would break the bird into breast, legs and thighs and freeze that way.  Warming is just a bit of butter or stock drizzled over it, cover in foil and placed in the oven at 300 till warm.

If presentation is big to you, the whole turkey thing, you will need to warm without drying out.  On a rack with liquid in the bottom is a good idea, 

I would make a good butter based injectable baste, bring it to a brief boil and shoot the turkey full before delivery to your friends.  The turkey will self baste for them assuring a nice moist bird.  Giving  them a guideline for time is tricky.  You know father in law is going to want to put his stuffing into the bird or they will place the bird in the oven then turn it on.  I wouldn't give them guidlines, either cook the bird to safe temp before delivery or tell them to cook to temp. 

You know you could include some cheep 3 dollar thermometers in the care package to give them a head start.

Sounds like you are going to have some happy coworkers.


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## mballi3011

I would agree with Bob and use that broiler pan method if it was me. I think that steaming is the only way to re-heat smoked anythig.


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## rbranstner

The bird will be fully cooked to 165-170 before I give it to them and they will just warm it up to eat it that day. I was just looking for a estimation that I could give them on how long the reheating process should take approximately. Several sources say 6-8 minutes a lb for reheating a  whole cooked bird so I am going to tell them that. I was thinking about getting some of those pop out thermometers that usually come in the bird and stick them in there after the bird is smoked and cooled that way they will know when the bird reaches 165 in their oven or what ever they are using to reheat it.I can get them at the local hardware store for pretty cheap and they always come in handy. I am going to be smoking one of these ahead of time for myself as well since I am oncall for Thanksgiving and I don't want to have to worry about the bird in the smoker if I get called out. It it is in the oven my wife and mother in law can take care of it if I have to leave. I will be putting a pan below it with broth and onions and then elevating the bird slightly off the broth with my V style stand and then probably covering it to keep the moisture in. I am going to suggest to the people at work that they do the same thing.


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