Another plan for Turkey to be eaten a couple of days after smoking

floridasteve · Nov 16, 2015

I have a thanksgiving pot luck at our office this Friday, and of course I want to smoke a turkey to show up the boss's fried turkey. So the potluck starts at 1:00pm, and it's at our southers office this year which is an hours drive, so I can't really smoke it that day. So here is my plan...

I'll spatchcock the bird and cook it on Wednesday along with some smokey au jus. That evening I'll fill an ice cube tray with the au jus and freeze it. I will also carve the bird. On Thursday I divide the meat into a couple of large vacumn seal bage, along with some of my au jus cubes and vacuum seal them. On Friday once I get to the office I'll warm the bags up in the microwave while still sealed tith the now unfrozen juices. I'm hoping this will keep the meat moist. But just in case, I'll make some gravey out of the remaining au jus.

What do y'all think?

bmaddox · Nov 16, 2015

Do you have any way to boil water at your office? I don't like reheating in the microwave since there is no temp control. Reheating in simmering water has worked great for me. An electric hot plate would work fine (or if you have an immersion circulator that would work great).

dirtsailor2003 · Nov 16, 2015

You will need to watch the bags really closely in the Micro, they will explode, especially with the au jus going from frozen to hot. Don't ask me how I know all of this!!!! Why freeze the au jus? I'd just put the cold au jus in the bag and seal. I don't really seea need to vacuum the bags for the short amount of time you are storing the meat.

I'd be tempted to go the crock pot method for reheating.

floridasteve · Nov 16, 2015

bmaddox said:
Do you have any way to boil water at your office? I don't like reheating in the microwave since there is no temp control. Reheating in simmering water has worked great for me. An electric hot plate would work fine (or if you have an immersion circulator that would work great).

The micro is the only thing for heating at the office, but a propane camp burner might be a welcome addition to my kit. Or, I could go really old school and wrap it really good with foil and put that on the exhaust manifold while I drove to the office. Lol

dirtsailor2003 said:
You will need to watch the bags really closely in the Micro, they will explode, especially with the au jus going from frozen to hot. Don't ask me how I know all of this!!!! Why freeze the au jus? I'd just put the cold au jus in the bag and seal. I don't really seea need to vacuum the bags for the short amount of time you are storing the meat.

I'd be tempted to go the crock pot method for reheating.

I was thinking if I froze the au jus it would be easy to vacuum seal it with the meat. I would place it into the fridge where the frozen juices would melt and the vacuum would draw the moisture into the meat.

I could take my crock pot and fill it with water and use it to heat the bags, but I think it would take too long to heat up.

Or maybe I could heat the bags in boiling water before I left, wrap them in towels, and just nuke them slightly once I get there.

tropics · Nov 16, 2015

Steve maybe you can heat a pot of water at home,then put the bird in that,inside a cooler.Nuke water every so often with the micro to maintain temp.

Richie

diamondrcattle · Nov 17, 2015

I did this for a church deal couple weeks ago. Smoked on a Thurs carved and put in fridge. Put alittle of the aujus over it and a can of chicken broth and reheated in a crock pot. Turned out almost perfect. Very pleased.

floridasteve · Nov 17, 2015

Turkey is in the brine,

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floridasteve
Nov 17, 2015

Thanks for the tub, @jarjarchef

floridasteve · Nov 18, 2015

I smoked the bird today. Took longer that I expected being spatchcocked. 6 hours for 13 pounds at 240*.

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floridasteve
Nov 18, 2015

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floridasteve
Nov 18, 2015

Here are my frozen containers of turkey au jus

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floridasteve
Nov 18, 2015

After vacuum sealing with the frozen chunks of juice. Now into the fridge until Friday morning

image.jpeg

floridasteve
Nov 18, 2015

floridasteve · Nov 19, 2015

By this morning, the juice had melted and disappeared into the meat. This may work :-)

image.jpeg

floridasteve
Nov 19, 2015

bmaddox · Nov 19, 2015

Looks good. What was the verdict on reheating? Are you going to microwave it?

floridasteve · Nov 19, 2015

I have a combination slow cooker and pressure cooker. It is insulated and has a locking lid. I used it to take pulled pork to an event almost the same distance a month ago and it was still nice and warm when I got there. So, my plan is in the morning to bring a a pot of water to a boil, place the two bags of turkey in (I checked and they'll just fit) then head down the road. If they're not quit warm enough when I get there, I can plug the cooker in to reheat the water, or gently nuke the bags on low.

oldschoolbbq · Nov 20, 2015

PERFECT ! ! !

Have a great Thanksgiving and . . .

floridasteve · Nov 21, 2015

It worked great! I placed both bags in the crock pot and poured boiling water over them and sealed the pot, drove 45 minutes to the office, then cut the vacusealed bags open and plated. I was surprised how muck juice came out onto the plate -- a bit to much for presentation, so I soaked some up with paper towels. Next time I will only use one frozen juice cup.

I'm sorry for no pictures, but we were a little late getting there and had to rush around getting it on the table were people were already going through the line. There were 3 other turkeys there, 1 roasted & 2 fired, but mine was the only one completely gone with the exception of one leg.

I like this method of serving later and can't wait to try it with pulled pork.

bmaddox · Nov 23, 2015

FloridaSteve said:
I like this method of serving later and can't wait to try it with pulled pork.

I love reheating in hot water. I do it all the time and you really can't tell the difference from when it first came off the smoker.

Glad it worked for you.

Another plan for Turkey to be eaten a couple of days after smoking

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