Gransnet forums

Christmas

Cooking turkey on Christmas Eve and reheating next day

(66 Posts)
Visgir1 Thu 21-Dec-23 10:46:50

Always cook my meat /Turkey the day before. I have a fridge in the garage so so in they go, if it's not cold enough to leave in garage.
Gravy warms it up.. Which I have also done and ready to go.

Charleygirl5 Thu 21-Dec-23 10:31:28

As we are having unseasonably warm weather I would as Rosie'sMaw said, put the vegetables in the garage and the turkey in the fridge.

I like 1-2 teaspoonfuls of gravy so it is rarely worth making for myself.

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 21-Dec-23 09:37:49

I have never liked re-heated meat. It’s never the same as freshly cooked.

Ailidh Thu 21-Dec-23 09:35:01

Following my Mum's pattern I've always cooked the bird the night before (always chicken in our house) and served it cold with piping hot accompaniments. Sliced meat doesn't stay that hot on a plate anyway, and I wouldn't run the risk of re-heating.

Joseann Thu 21-Dec-23 08:20:43

Grateful for your thread winterwhite. A timely reminder as we have a pregnant DD2 with us and can't be too careful.

Joseann Thu 21-Dec-23 08:14:46

So, I had the brainwave in the night to remove the two cool boxes from the bottom of the fridge for the turkey space. The raw vegetables will be fine in the garage. I need all the other fridge space possible.
All good so far.
Except, I've had a new integral fridge fitted as part of the kitchen design, and the door doesn't swing open enough to remove the glass shelf over the top. I can't shift the fridge like I could before. Hmm, I think I'll wait for DH to come back from the dog walk to try because I don't want to cause a big split in the rubber door seal.

winterwhite Thu 21-Dec-23 07:26:26

Many thanks. I'm inclining to the fridge solution.

If I cooked the turkey on Sunday I'd dismember it as well and carve it up, but is it poss to reheat slices without gravy, which I dislike? No?

RosiesMaw Thu 21-Dec-23 00:17:28

Definitely Joseann
If your fridge was running at that temperature your alarm would be going off!

Joseann Wed 20-Dec-23 23:17:58

We are forecast 14 degrees in the south west for Sunday/Monday. I'm having a re think about storing foods in the garage, especially the turkey.

Harris27 Wed 20-Dec-23 23:16:33

I’ve always cooked my Turkey on a Christmas Eve so it freed up the oven on Christmas Day. All good.

ginny Wed 20-Dec-23 23:09:34

I’d clear as much out of the fridge as I could too.
Mind you, I don’t like much gravy so heating it up with gravy soaking into it would not suit me.

RosiesMaw Wed 20-Dec-23 23:00:13

The weather is so mild I'm worrying about whether the garage will be cold enough to keep a small turkey from Friday to Monday

My fridge temperature is currently 6C so if the temp outside goes above that over the weekend, then no, I suspect it won’t be.

Germanshepherdsmum Wed 20-Dec-23 22:39:09

I would take as much as possible out of the fridge and put the turkey in it.

paddyann54 Wed 20-Dec-23 22:37:50

Ours is cooked ,frozen in portions in vacuum bags and grave frozen seperately I never know exactly how many are coming so I'll take the bags out in the morning and let them defrost then heat the meat in a large skillet with the gravy .It has always worked fine.I dont eat fowl so I have to take the families word for it,but it always gets eaten and whats left in the freezer can be taken out when needed

Charleygirl5 Wed 20-Dec-23 22:34:27

If you do cook it on Sunday and reheat it on Christmas Day, you cannot reheat it again and there will be leftovers unless you are happy to eat them cold.

winterwhite Wed 20-Dec-23 21:55:21

Anyone ever done this without a microwave?

The weather is so mild I'm worrying about whether the garage will be cold enough to keep a small turkey from Friday to Monday. Alternatives are either turfing out much of the content of the fridge and putting all that in the garage, or cooking the turkey on Sunday. Or I suppose putting it in the freezer on Friday and getting it out on Sunday.

Needless to say I lent our cool bag to a DD in the summer and haven't had it back