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Transporting Freshly Cooked Turkey??

J

Jbart74

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2006
Messages
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Location
Springfield, MA
So, I've been tasked with cooking the bird for Christmas dinner but I want to cook it at home then drive it to dinner about an hour away. I've never done this before. Does anyone have any helpful hints on the best way to accomplish this? I can use the oven at my destination for an hour or two to finish it up if that's the best way.... I'll look forward to your tips.

John
 
For Thanksgiving we always go RV camping and do the motorcycle ATV desert riding thing. The RV ovens are too small to cook a whole turkey and we can’t take a chance on good weather to roast a turkey outside. So, my Mom always makes and carves the turkey the day before and puts it in plastic roasting bags and we warm it in the next day for dinner and it tastes great. The bags keep the turkey moist.

I would think you could do the same thing and roast and carve your turkey and transport it warm in the roasting bags and put it in the oven on warm when you get to your destination. And, you will have already done the cleanup at home. Just an idea.
 
You might consider A Nesco Roaster. It would cook the turkey, then transport it with minimal temp loss. These last forever and are one of those items than siblings fight over if the parents have one.
http://www.nesco.com/category_774b5b98e066/

What time do we eat?

Jim Ricks
 
I used to do this every year when my MIL was alive. You will be fine cooking the bird the whole way at home. It will do it's "resting" on the trip. We carved it once we arrived. I don't put stuffing in my turkeys. I do put orange pieces, apples and onions to toss out when the turkey is done.
 
Jbart74 said:
So, I've been tasked with cooking the bird for Christmas dinner but I want to cook it at home then drive it to dinner about an hour away. I've never done this before. Does anyone have any helpful hints on the best way to accomplish this? I can use the oven at my destination for an hour or two to finish it up if that's the best way.... I'll look forward to your tips.

John
Click to expand...
Personally, I don't think transporting a partially cooked turkey, even if it's only an hour away, and then finishing it up is a good idea. I'd cook it the day before. I've done this as well, it may seem odd but works well. Cook the turkey the day before. Then line a large baking pan with lettuce leaves. Layer in all the sliced turkey, you can also drizzle in some of the pan juices (minus the fat), cover with more lettuce leaves and refrigerate. The next day, just heat in the oven. The lettuce leaves contain enough moisture to prevent the turkey from drying when reheating.
 
Cook it in a Reynolds Oven Bag inside a roasting pan. Cover the pan with a blanket in the trunk to keep the bird warm.
 
The cardboard boxes that copy paper comes in are perfect for this. We just put a large bath towel in the bottom, the turkey in the roaster (covered with aluminum foil) in next, and another large bath towel on top. Our drive is only about 30 minutes, but I think you'd be fine on an hour drive as long as it came straight out of the oven before you left.

Sheila
 
swift said:
I used to do this every year when my MIL was alive. You will be fine cooking the bird the whole way at home. It will do it's "resting" on the trip. We carved it once we arrived. I don't put stuffing in my turkeys. I do put orange pieces, apples and onions to toss out when the turkey is done.
Click to expand...

I agree, especially if it is stuffed. This year, the turkey was done at 1PM, so we pulled it out. Dinner was at 3:30. When carving at 3:15, the bird was still hot to touch when removing the breasts.

I also saw Alton Brown on Food Network say that you can cook it the day before and dismember it without slicing the breast. Place the meat into a roasting pan with turkey stock and refrigerate it until the next day. I don't remember how long he put it in for the next day, but it only needs to get back up to about 140* since it was fully cooked once.
 
Passepartout said:
You might consider A Nesco Roaster. It would cook the turkey, then transport it with minimal temp loss. These last forever and are one of those items than siblings fight over if the parents have one.
http://www.nesco.com/category_774b5b98e066/
Click to expand...

OK--I've heard enough positive remarks about this product to seriously consider it. Sure, we may only use for special occasions, but it sure would take the stress out of cooking for a large group with only one oven (and sounds like the inside section is removable for transportation/easy cleanup.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My mother-in-law's had a roaster like this for about 30 years. She always roasts her turkey in it, quite successfully.

In addition, for manys year recently, she's cooked the turkey in her roast a day in advance, carved it and wrapped smaller packets of meat in foil, each doused with a small amount of the pan juices. The next day, she puts water in the bottom of the roaster, puts in the rack that came with it, and places the foil packets on top of the rack to warm by steaming. When I first heard this was how she was going to do the turkey, I was very skeptical. But I have to say it turns out well...not always the most perfect slices of meat, but very moist and tasty - not at all like it's been reheated.
 
Ran into another friend who's family has been using these for years, and loves the results with turkey (said turkeys turn out really moist and transport well), but he said they don't brown. Is that true? I'm thinking it makes sense they wouldn't but wanted to check.
 
muranojo said:
Ran into another friend who's family has been using these for years, and loves the results with turkey (said turkeys turn out really moist and transport well), but he said they don't brown. Is that true? I'm thinking it makes sense they wouldn't but wanted to check.
Click to expand...

A little research shows that there is a lid with a fan in it for convection. Reports are that it browns well and eliminated the PITB of browning the turkey in a conventional oven. I knew a NESCO wouldn't broil, but at 450 deg. I thought it would brown. Live 'n' learn.

Jim Ricks
 
You guys all rock. Thanks for all of the suggestions. I think that I need not buy a new appliance for this Christmas Bird, but I do like learning about it. Maybe in the future... This year, I think I'll just cook it, cover it with foil and blankets, and pretend my trunk is the oven when we get to the MIL's house. Open and Carve! VOILA!

Thanks again to everyone and feel free to keep the comments coming! I've still got a couple of weeks!

John
 
John-
Your turkey should arrive hot, moist and delicious! Sounds like a great plan!

I'm curious about the Nesco roaster. How does it differ from a crock-pot?
The info on the link says it can bake a pie or cookies, steam veggies or poach fish? I've really got to spend more time in the kitchen.

I think I saw something similar at Costco recently. Does anyone know if the Nesco roaster is available at Costco?
 
I transort food the following way and have kept it PIPING hot for 1-2 hours easily:

Put a lid or lots of foil on your dish and put it in a large ice chest with towels on the bottom. Once your dish is in the ice chest, put more towels on top of your dish. As many as the ice chest will hold or that you have! Then close the ice chest and transport. Of course, you don't do this until JUST before you are leaving. I've taken stuffing out before that still had steam just pouring off it

Another idea, that might even be better. Cook and slice your turkey the day before. A couple hours before you leave for your trip, reheat the turkey in a roasting pan with lots of chicken broth, unitl it's really hot, but of course you don't want to re-cook it! Then pack it up as described above, and it will be SUPER moist and piping hot when you get to your party. Drain broth before serving.

Best of luck!

Janna
 
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