Roasting turkey the day before?

[MaryIsobel]

Due to the devastation from flooding last fall in the Fraser Valley and a continuous battle with the Avian flu, that has seen thousands of chickens and turkeys culled, the biggest turkey I could find was just a little over 12 lbs. I usually do a 23-25 pound bird and roast it the day of. So, I bought two 12 pound turkeys. For a number of reasons, I don't want to cook two turkeys the day of. I have read about roasting a turkey the day before and warming it gently with splashes of broth the next day so I'm thinking I'll do one the day before and one the day of (so the house smells like turkey!)  I don't personally know of anyone who has done this successfully or otherwise. Any voices of experience out there?

I did search these forums but didn't have any luck.

[chromedome]

16 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

Due to the devastation from flooding last fall in the Fraser Valley and a continuous battle with the Avian flu, that has seen thousands of chickens and turkeys culled, the biggest turkey I could find was just a little over 12 lbs. I usually do a 23-25 pound bird and roast it the day of. So, I bought two 12 pound turkeys. For a number of reasons, I don't want to cook two turkeys the day of. I have read about roasting a turkey the day before and warming it gently with splashes of broth the next day so I'm thinking I'll do one the day before and one the day of (so the house smells like turkey!)  I don't personally know of anyone who has done this successfully or otherwise. Any voices of experience out there?

I did search these forums but didn't have any luck.

I do that routinely, when it's a large gathering.

Roast the bird(s) however you normally do, carve it after a suitable rest, then pack it into multiple flat containers (or even bags) and refrigerate it overnight. In my case, I'll generally put it right into the foil pan I"ll use the next day to reheat it (one for white meat, one for dark). I'm a big fan of crisp skin, so I separate that and heat it separately at the last minute to re-crisp. Then of course the carcass goes into the Instant Pot to become broth and, thereafter, gravy.

[ElsieD]

I do exactly what @chromedomedoes. Except we do capons, not turkey.  The stuffing is done separately the day of.

[MaryIsobel]

52 minutes ago, chromedome said:

I do that routinely, when it's a large gathering.

Roast the bird(s) however you normally do, carve it after a suitable rest, then pack it into multiple flat containers (or even bags) and refrigerate it overnight. In my case, I'll generally put it right into the foil pan I"ll use the next day to reheat it (one for white meat, one for dark). I'm a big fan of crisp skin, so I separate that and heat it separately at the last minute to re-crisp. Then of course the carcass goes into the Instant Pot to become broth and, thereafter, gravy.

Thank you - I couldn't forsee any big problems but never having done it, I was just looking for validation. Crisping the skin separately is brilliant, I hadn't thought of that.

[&roid]

I’m not as much of a fan as I am quite susceptible to that reheated taste that some meat gets. It’s probably me just being fussy but our method for avoiding this is to break the turkey down into legs and crowns. I confit the legs overnight then simply (and relatively quickly) roast the crowns on the day.