how much can be done the night before the turkey cooking

Pattylee · ‎10-12-2010

I have had several people tell me that they stuff their turkey the night before Thanksgiving and then just pop it in the oven the next morning. We eat around noon and I always cook a 20+ lb. turkey which means I am up and stuffing that bird around 3:00 am. Is it possible to stuff it the night before and then refrigerate it? Or is it possible to cook it all night slowly and have it ready to stand and carve mid morning? Any ideas would be helpful....I am getting a little old to get up that early and still want to visit all day with family.

jackthebear · ‎03-11-2010

cook most of the side dishes the day/s before and reheat.

Figure out long it takes to cook the turkey,

20 minutes per pound in a 350 degree F oven for a defrosted turkey
and calculate from the time when you want to eat. Ours always seem to be done earlier.

There is also a method of cooking the bird the day before and reheating it, I haven't done that but my sister in law does it and it is fine.

http://food.unl.edu/fnh/day-before-turkey

I think that putting a cold stuffed turkey in the oven would take longer to cook as well, and I think it isnt a good idea to do that.

violann · ‎03-10-2010

NO! The wet and dry ingredients need to be kept separate until just before the bird goes into the oven. Even better to do the stuffing in flat pans, and crisp it by dribbling a little turkey pan drippings over it and giving it a few minutes under the broiler just before serving. Done the night before, the stuffing is just the right temperature for unwanted "visitors" to grow in it. That's one of the reasons I now cook 2 smaller birds instead of one giant one. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

missy1 · ‎03-10-2010

I don't understand why it takes so long to cook/prepare a turkey. 3am to 12pm? Even the largest turkey at least 25 pounds cooks only about 5 hours. Stuffing doesn't take that long to make, and I make it semi-homemade. I do not cook my stuffing in the turkey, and use a cooking bag (for the turkey).

Theoriginallacey · ‎03-28-2012

I would not stuff it the night before. You can cook most things or prepare for cooking the day before, but that is just not something I would prep ahead of time. I wouldn't stuff the bird at all, but I don't really care for stuffing.

PamelaSue72 · ‎09-22-2011

I would not stuff the turkey the night before. When I used to stuff our turkeys, I would keep the bread cubes out overnight (unwrapped) and chop my stuffing vegetables and put them together in a bowl in the fridge. That's as far as I went. The next morning, I would assemble the stuffing, then put it into the turkey for roasting.

Around here, the day before Thanksgiving, I work until 4:00 pm. Come home and have dinner, Louisiana Red Beans and Rice in the crock pot, so no cooking there. Then I will start in.

I should mention that Mr. Turkey will come out of the deep freeze on Saturday morning and get into the fridge to thaw.

By Wednesday night, gravy will already be taken from the freezer and put into the fridge to thaw. The freezer cabbage will already be thawing in the fridge. My turkey stock should be thawed by then. Vegetable stock will be ready to go for the turkey brine. The Old Farmhouse Chutney is on the kitchen counter. Linens are washed and ready to go on the table on Thursday morning. Table centerpiece is in the basement (Away from cats' prying paws ${#emotions_dlg.biggrin}$ . Love my cats dearly, but they can be bad when it comes to fresh flowers and such).

Make the iced tea (we are big iced tea people). Put the wine bottles in the fridge drawer.

Make the brine for Mr. Turkey to soak in overnight (he's a 24-pounder and will spend the night in the basement in his brining bucket in the ice chest)

Make the cornbread for the stuffing

Make the praline pumpkin pies (I think two will be OK)

Make the Black Bottom Peanut Butter Pie

Make the Black Forest Cheesecake

I will be using a lot of onions on Thursday, so will chop up a nice container of onions to help make food prep easier on Thursday morning.

That should be about it. It won't take real long to get these things done. On Wednesday morning, I will have all canned and boxed products on the kitchen counter ready to be used that night. All of my recipes are printed out and ready to go.

I'm all about prep.

BonnieBelle · ‎03-10-2010

I make the sweet potato casserole, turnips, and string bean casserole the night before. I make the stuffing fresh in the morning, stuff the bird, put it in the oven to cook. I make the mashed potatoes and vegetables fresh when the turkey is almost done cooking.

donasmom · ‎03-09-2010

I do most of my Thanksgiving dinner the day before

Make dip and prepare vegetables for appetizer

Bake pies

Make my 24 hour salad (a variation of an Ambrosia)

Boil giblets for broth for gravy

Prepare the stuffing but do not stuff bird until it's ready to go into oven.

Set the table

Thanksgiving morning the turkey goes in the oven and I do the rest.

My DD is making the Green Bean Casserole, and so all I have to do is make sure it is hot when we sit down to dinner.

I do go to bed a little later that night, but it's worth it!

bscandle · ‎04-07-2012

I did a search and on Cowhound it has an article saying cook your 20lb bird on 450 for an hour to brown the skin up then 250 for 7 hours so even doing it low and slow it would be done awful early if you did it before bed. I agree i would not stuff it until i am ready to put in oven but you could have it made and ready to go in bird.

StylishLady · ‎03-11-2010

Pretty much what everyone else said. Some things I'll do earlier like preparing the cranberry sauce and baking a couple pies (pumpkin and pecan) the day before.