Turkey Cooking

Food/Drink
1

My wife wants to cook a Turkey overnight at low temperature. Various websites that I have visited suggest that this is a safe practice. Have any of you had experience doing this? Any pointers or warnings that I should heed? Please advise.

2
  1. Why does she want to do that?
  2. Why would it be unsafe?

Edit: I googled it, and this is a thing. I say why not try it? It’s fun to try different cooking techniques. I don’t see anything unsafe about it.

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3

  1. We have a tiny fridge, so we’d prefer to just cook the Turkey, then eat it the next day (disassembling the huge amount of leftovers.

  2. I suffer from anxiety, and want to be assured that there is no fire danger, otherwise I’m going to lay awake all night worried.

We are going to try it, I think it will be safe, and could result in more tender meat from the slow cooking at lower temperatures.

Any other advice out there?

4

cook the turkey upside down . This protects the white meat from overcooking and allows it to absorb the juices as they run downward into the bottom of the pan. Then, for the last hour of roasting, carefully remove the pan from the oven and flip the bird over.

I did this accidentally once, and its amazing how much juicer it is

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5

I wouldn’t worry about fire. It’s such a low temperature and such a big piece of meat. You’d have to dry it out and burn it to a crisp to light it on fire. I guess you can clean the oven tomorrow for extra assurance. Or you could get an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is calibrated correctly.

Slow cooked poultry is good. Sounds like fun.

Alternatively, you could butcher it before cooking it. I do this and then grill it. Then leftovers are easy to deal with. But it’s not traditional.

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6

I smoke my turkey at 250 degrees, that takes 8 or 9 hours depending on turkey size. I’ve never had any problems with that.

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7

I’ve smoked turkeys overnight in my pellet smoker.

They turn out good if you brine the bird for a couple of days prior to smoking, or use a butterball. Use a good poultry rub with lots of sage.

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8

Yes, plenty of times with other things. But the question remains why?

I don’t really recommend it. There is a caveat. If you’re going to do it, pretty much debone the bird so you can get if pretty flat in your cooking pan. DOUBLE COVER the pan with plastic wrap, then cover with 1 layer of foil. Also, make sure you get your herbs, spices, and at least 1" of water in bottom of the roasting pan. Otherwise your bird will dry out. Do it at 215 for 8 hours.

Point of record, I’ve cooked in restaurants most of my adult life. I’ve learned many techniques, and perfected a few.

Another option, with your deboned bird of course. Is to confit the bird. This requires that the bird be SUBMERGED in oil.

PM me if you want more help.

You’ll notice, that regardless of how you cook it over nite you butcher the bird. This allows you to make a good stock overnite at the same time.

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9

lulz

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